Episode 4: Food for Thought (Part 4 of 5)

"I've never been in the Ettercap's Lair before," Bront announces to our Heroes. "But I know many a Dwarf that have come here and by accident found themselves at the Ettercap's and its Spiders mercy. One young Dwarf once got dragged here, but he escaped by climbing all the way back up that vertical hole. . . It was horrific. But, to save my daughter, we must brave whatever lies beneath the ground. Are you sure you two still want to do this?" He asks and he looks at Locke and Lil almost in disgust.

Lilanei turns her gaze away from his in shame as she quietly replies, "Yes."

"Of course we will," Locke says, echoing the sentiments of his comrade. "Bront, we've done you a great disservice and we shall make it up to you by recovering your baby."

"Your words mean nothing to me, boy," Bront announces harshly. "If you want my respect, you shall simply rescue my baby – not talk about it."

Locke frowns and clenches his fist, very tempted to hit Bront in the back of the head and do it himself – but knowing three people would fare better than two in this situation, as no one knows what lurks under the ground, he instead sighs and simply nods to Bront. Our trio then look on at the cave, which is illuminated by the bright glare of the moonlight which hangs above the cave mouth before they notice movement by the cave. Coming out of the cave are two strange, red-winged creatures. With four wings and stingers where there feet would be, their faces appear very Goblin-like – skinny with long noses – while their limbs are long claws which snap around wildly as they begin to hover in front of the cave mouth.

"What are those things?" Locke asks in bewilderment.

"They're called stirges," Bront announces. "Pesky things. Not as harmful as the Ettercap or the Deathjump Spiders, but still, they'll give us some difficulty getting in to the cave. But we must act; time is against us."

Locke nods to Bront and immediately leaps out from behind the trees, the stirges immediately noticing him as their wings begin to flap with greater velocity and their claws begin to snap even wilder. The stirges screech in alarm and excitement as Bront follows suit, appearing from behind the large tree beside Locke, with Lilanei following from behind.

The smaller stirge screeches even louder in alarm as it sees our trio fully emerged from behind the greenery. Immediately, it flies towards Locke, its stinger pointed at the forefront of its body as its claws snap viciously as it dive-bombs towards our Hero. The stirge then instead opts to open its mouth and snap its head forwards in an attempt to bite Locke, who simply thrusts his arm upwards, his palm fully open, as he smacks the stirge in the face – pushing it away from him as the stirge flies out of the control in the air for a moment. As the smaller stirge is distracted by Locke, Bront wastes no time pushing forwards as he moves towards the cave opening, making all speed towards the larger stirge. He withdraws his large Warhammer that was strapped to his back before he lifts it into the air and slams it down in an attempt to swat the stirge out of the air. The hammer slams into the back of the stirge's neck, doing exactly what Bront intended it to do, as the strike pushes the stirge down and it drops out of the air, landing stomach first into the grass.

Locke watches Bront strike the stirge out of the air, which sends a spark of admiration and encouragement within him. Seeing this small Dwarf strike the stirge down with all his fury, this encourages our Hero to act much in the same way. He withdraws his sickle from the sheathe on his boot and bends his knees, kneeling down slightly before then springing up – grass flying up from under his feet as he leaps into the air towards the smaller stirge which is flailing wildly up in the air. Once he is within reaching distance, Locke grips his sickle tightly and takes a slash at the smaller stirge. The sickle shreds across the stirge's belly, causing it to shriek in fright and pain as Locke drops out of the air and lands gracefully on his feet, seeing the stirge's wings flap even faster than before. As Locke's hit the ground with a thump, Lil darts from behind him to his side, thrusting her palm up at the stirge that Locke just struck. With a blank glare, she attempts to launch a bolt of magic at the stirge's already injured belly; nevertheless her magic simply dies and, with a flash, the energy that had begun to gather simply disappears.

The stirge which Bront had earlier struck down to the ground now rises off its face and flaps its wings before once again fluttering into the air, where it looks down at Bront and screeches.

Bront screams, "Come on, you scaly, ugly excuse for a bird! I'll kill you!"

The stirge reacts by ceasing the flapping of its wings as it dives down towards Bront, its claws pointing down towards him which snap open and shut violently as it attempts to catch Bront in its bear trap-like grip. However, as it drops down towards Bront, the Dwarf simply waves his large Warhammer violently side to side like a pendulum causing the stirge to once again flap its wings and fly back up into the air so as not to be struck by Bront's weapon. Angry from being injured, the smaller stirge reacts in the same as its larger counterpart, dropping out of the air before hovering in front of Locke's face, where it begins to snap its claws at Locke. The claws reach Locke's face before they snap shut, pinching Locke's skin as the stirge screeches in excitement.

It pulls all four of its claws back, ripping four small chunks of flesh off Locke's cheeks, to which Locke screams, "My beautiful face – again!"

The larger stirge still hovers above Bront, who continues to swing his Warhammer back and fourth, trying to hit or at least scare off the stirge. Yet the stirge simply doesn't want to flee, instead opting to stay and fight. Grunting, Bront stops swinging his Warhammer before he pulls it down from the air and then, gathering all of his strength, thrusts the Warhammer up so that the flat of the hammer may connect with the bottom of the stirge's chin. However, at the last moment, the stirge flies higher up into the air, causing the short Bront and his long Warhammer to miss the target.

Reeling from his bleeding wounds, Locke steps back about ten feet from the battle as he then kneels down and digs within his bag before withdrawing his bottle of potion. He swirls the blue coloured liquid around in the small bottle before ripping the cork out of it with his teeth before quickly drinking it down like the sweetest rum. The potion's effects immediately come into play as the wounds on his cheeks stop bleeding and begin to heal as he feels refreshed. Now that Locke has stepped back from his position, Lil side steps so that she is now in front of the stirge's direct flight path and slowly raises her fists into the air as the ground below her begins to crackle. As she extends her arms as high as she can, the crackling grows brighter and louder before a single whip of energy raises up from the ground and slashes at the stirge in an upwards strike. The stirge begins to fly wildly in the air, out of control as it circles the same area around and around. As it does, blood pours from it, causing it to quite literally rain blood on the grass and shrubbery below it as it continues to screech in pain, almost as if it were begging.

Avoiding Bront's earlier attack, the stirge once again dives down from the air, this time with its head lurched forwards as its claws snap open and shut violently intending to strike Bront with both its claws and its jaws. The stirge lands its strike in foul blows, its teeth sinking into Bront's cheeks as its claws violently rip at his neck. With blood still pouring from its severe wounds, the small stirge causes blood to rain down from its position in the sky. As Locke is still in the background, regaining his wits, the stirge focuses its attention on Lilanei, vengeance on its mind from the heavy blow she dealt to it. It dives down towards her, this time with its sharp stinger-like tail pointing directly at her head, as it drops down, with all intentions of the tail hitting Lil in the head. Lil tries to swat the stirge away but misses; instead the stirge's tail hits its target, striking Lil with the tip of its tail in her forehead, the strike forcing blood to pour out of Lil's head.

Bront is determined to make the larger stirge that continues to taunt him suffer. He rests his Warhammer by his side and pulls out his crossbow, which he immediately arms with an arrow and aims up at the stirge. Bront immediately finds this difficult as the stirge, despite being larger, still flies wildly in the air, making itself a highly difficult target. Concentrating intently, Bront follows the stirge's flight path, which it repeats over and over as Bront then begins to move his crossbow in the direction the stirge is intending make before the stirge actually makes its move. The stirge then makes the mistake of flying directly into the cross hairs mounted on top of the crossbow, and Bront squeezes the trigger, causing the arrow to shoot violently from the bow and plunge into the stirge's chest. Now weakened and bleeding heavily, the stirge drops out of the air and lands on the ground with a thump. Bront laughs, thinking that it is dead, but as he advances on it, the stirge begins to screech and snaps its claws wildly from its position.

Eager to finish this meaningless fight and rescue Bront's daughter, Locke once again grips his sickle tightly and runs forward, charging towards Lil and the stirge that had just injured her. When he is just a mere couple of feet to Lil's back, Locke once again springs up into the air, almost flying over Lil, and faces the stirge head on. He brings his sickle back and with a violent thrust attempts to jar his sickle into the center of the stirge's head, much like the stirge had just done to Lil. The sickle hits its target; however not exactly where Locke intended as the stirge moves its head at the last second, Locke's sickle simply shredding the stirge's ear off. The ear flies off the stirge's skull, blood gushing out of the wound as the stirge lets out a long drawn out screech before the ear lands on the ground in front of Lil.

Eyes widening in surprise as Locke lands in front of her, Lil nevertheless shakes it off as she darts beside him and yells, "Give me a boost!"

Locke complies, and as Lil jumps up into the air, Locke kneels down under her and interlocks his fingers together so that Lil's left foot lands in his hands. Within a moment, Locke exerts all of his strength and pushes his arms upwards, giving Lil more momentum as she springs off Locke's hands and flies into the air, reaching the stirge's height. Once in the air, Lilanei unsheathes her dagger in one smooth movement and slashes at the stirge's large nose. The stirge cries in pain as Lil's swipe takes the tip of the stirge's very long nose with it. Blood splatters on Lil's chest before she drops to the ground, watching as the nose tip drops in front of her before the stirge's wings slowly cease flapping and it drops to the ground as well – writhing around on the grass violently as it continues to screech.

Without the energy to fly, the large stirge in front of Bront simply lashes out with its claws, attempting to hit Bront in the stomach. The stirge's claw opens up and then snap shut, catching the side of Bront's armoured torso in its grip. While the claw doesn't strike through the armour and pierce his skin, the claw causes the armour to buckle under the pressure, which winds Bront as he yells out in pain and surprise. Meanwhile, Locke and Lilanei surround the stirge that continues to writhe in pain on the floor. As it spins in circles, shredding the grass beneath it, it spins and makes its way towards Locke's legs. Once Locke's legs are in front of it, the stirge opens its mouth and attempts to take a sharp bite out of Locke's shin. The bite catches Locke square in the center of his shin and as the stirge continues to spin around on the ground, it tears away part of the material of Locke's leggings, exposing his now bruised and grazed shin.

With both stirge's now on the ground, Bront feels the end draws near. He prepares to make a final blow with his Warhammer as he lifts the large weapon over his head and stares down towards the fallen stirge. The Warhammer slams violently into the side of the larger stirge's head, the impact of which causes the stirge's skull to collapse immediately as its eyes pop out of its head, and it lies motionless on the ground, very much dead. Not wanting to be outdone, Locke grasps his sickle and attempts to deal a similar deathblow to the stirge that continues to convulse in front of he and Lil. However, as it convulses, it becomes too much of a hard target for Locke to strike as he jumps down to his knees, and with both hands wrapped around the sickle's handle, his attempted strike misses as the blade simply plunges into the dirt below him.

"Damn!" Locke cries in frustration as the stirge continues to convulse on the ground, its tail smacking into Locke's face causing him to fall back into the dirt.

Lil soon follows suit and with her dagger still in her hands, she dives forth with her entire body, slamming the dagger down into the stirge with all the force she can muster. The blade strikes the insertion of the stirge's left wing, where the wing connects to the stirge's body. This strike immediately tears through the nerves, the muscle, and the cartilage of the stirge's left wing. The stirge cries out in pain and immediately our Heroes notice that the stirge's wing now lies limp, being dragging around on the ground as its convulsing begins to slow down. Now heavily weakened and with the end near, the stirge makes one final bid to strike at its attacker – in this case, Lil. Weakly, the stirge reaches out with its bottom left claw and attempts to take a snap at Lil's already injured and bloodied forehead. However, as it so weak with blood heavily draining from it, the stirges' claw simply drops to the ground before it twitches slightly in a spasm. Seeing Locke, Lil, and the stirge on the ground, Bront strides over to it, his Warhammer held tightly in both of his hands. Immediately he lifts the Warhammer and sends it crashing down towards the stirge's skull; however the stirge unbelievably moves its head at the last second, avoiding the attack as the hammer slams into the ground with the dirt and grass terrain around Bront crumbling beneath the force of his mighty Warhammer.

During this time, Locke has sat and grabbed his sickle. Quickly he transfers himself onto his knees and lunges forward with his sickle above his head in an attempt to plunge its blade into the monster to finish it off, but once again, the stirge avoids the strike by now rolling over so it is on its front, where it tries to flap its wings to escape. Clearly its left wing is too damaged to move. Lil finally pushes herself up from her belly to her knees, using the strength within her arms, and now with the dagger clenched in her right hand, Lil thrusts her arm forward once more, sending the dagger plunging fatally into the stirge's chest. The creature lets out a very small and short screech before it lies on the ground, dead – blood beginning to seep from its wounds.

Sighing slightly, Locke rises to his feet, dusting himself down before he sheathes his sickle and then offers his hand to Lilanei, who takes before Locke pulls her to her feet. Our Heroes look to Bront, who stares back at them, blood on his face. For a moment, all is silent as the three stare at each before Bront's mouth, which is hidden behind his long, long beard, curls down into a snarl.

"Hm, very good there, Lilanei," He sneers. "For a second there, I thought you two children weren't going to make it. Now come, we'd better get a move on!"

Undeterred, Bront makes his way towards the entrance of the cave with Locke and Lilanei following close behind. The moonlight, while illuminating the hill some, does not help them with their vision as they peer down through the mouth of the cave and can literally see nothing. However, now our trio has a better view of the cave mouth, they can see that it is indeed a vertical drop.

"Well then," Locke says, rubbing his hands together. "Who's going first? Because it sure ain't me!"

"Coward," Bront spits.

"Hey midget," Locke replies, "I just wanted a cushion to break my fall. No doubt your tubby behind would make the perfect crash mat."

"Why you insolent little—"

As Locke and Bront bicker at each other across the hole in the ground, Lil merely steps forward to where her feet now meet the gaping hole below her, allowing herself to fall feet first into the dark pit.

"Lil!" Locke cries, immediately forgetting about Bront as he jumps into the pit behind her – thoroughly surprised that Lilanei actually plunged into the cave mouth first. Last to go is Bront who, as Locke disappears into the darkness, follows behind.

After a long fall, Lilanei feels her drop begin to get slower and slower as something clutches onto her clothing, until she drops through a hole in the ceiling and lands on a soft, cushion-like substance on the ground. After a few seconds she hears Locke, who athletically tumbles as he hits the ground to avoid any damage. Bront finally drops after them, his bulbous frame landing backside-first on the ground, but the same cushioned substance breaks his fall while the same substance that slowed Lil and Locke's drop slowed his. The trio pat themselves down, before attempting to look to each other, only to realize that the lair of the Ettercap is pitch black – nothing can be seen.

"Lil? Lil, where are you?" Locke asks, his voice echoing throughout the cave. "I can't see you!"

Just as Locke completes his sentence, he and Bront see a flicker of light before them as Lilanei simply lights the orb she has now removed from her bag.

Before Locke takes in his surroundings, he looks directly at Lil as he announces, "You know, we did have rope. . ."

"I know," Lil replies blankly as she begins to march down the cave tunnel. Locke watches Lil march on as he notes his surroundings. The walls of the cave are simply dirt held together by what Locke, in his alarm, recognizes as being held together by a vast amount of webbing. He looks to his feet and yelps slightly as he realizes that the floor is also covered in nothing but webbing. He attempts to walk towards Lil and realizes that his steps are much slower than usual, due to the fact that the webbing clings to his, Lil, and Bront's feet. Slowly, Lil leads the group with Locke and then Bront tailing behind her – their respective grunts being heard as they pull their feet up from the cave floor before stepping forwards only to feel their feet becoming engrossed and stuck in the webbing once more as they meet the ground. Slowly, they pull their feet out to take another step. This arduous process continues down the small, narrow tunnel until Bront speaks up to our Heroes ahead of him.

"Be careful," he grunts. "All this webbing – if it's attached to a large web, the Ettercap will know we're coming."

"Huh, lovely," Locke replies with sarcasm. "They're going to roll out the red carpet for us!"

Lil says nothing; instead she continues to press forward, her determination to retrieve the baby causing her to ignore Locke's witty banter to which she would usually react negatively towards. Lilanei finally stops in her tracks as she notices something just ahead of her – a suit of armour. Lil walks up towards the suit of armour curiously, before she kneels in front of it. She holds the glowing orb just above the armour to observe it more closely and notices that the suit of armour is old and rusted, with thick layers of webbing covering it. She peels away some webbing from what she assumes is the head of the armour before she then pushes the visor on the armour upwards, and with a loud rusted creak, the visor opens, revealing the decomposing skull of a fallen Dwarf – the skull now being brown and rotten with webbing coming out of its mouth, nostrils, and eye holes. Disgusted, Lil places her free hand over her mouth before she stands and stumbles to the side, though not very far because of the webbing. Locke now slowly walks out of the narrow tunnel into the wider area and looks down to see the long dead Dwarf.

"Gross." He simply states before he inspects it further.

After staring at the armoured Dwarf, Locke kneels down in the webbing, much like Lil did, and wipes the webbing away from the dead Dwarf's left side. As he brushes away the very sticky webbing, which now clings to his hand, Locke notices a brown satchel like bag which is fastened to the armour.

"Hey, look at this!" Locke whispers excitedly as he opens up the satchel.

"What is it?" Lilanei asks.

"Well, it's good," Locke replies as he pulls from the bag two small bottles of blue liquid. Locke has retrieved two bottles of potion from the dead Dwarf's bag. He throws one to Lil before pocketing the other which he places in his bag. Lil clutches the bottle in her hand and recognizing that blood still trickles down from her forehead, she opens the bottle with her teeth and drinks from the bottle. As she does, the blood immediately clots in her head and the wound begins to heal – Lil now feeling reinvigorated. Meanwhile, Locke's eyes grow brighter as he notices and pulls out twenty gold pieces from the Dwarf's bag.

"Well, well," Locke announces in joy. "I think he won't be needing these!"

With that, Locke places the twenty gold into his pouch. Bront growls slightly and smacks Locke in the back of the head as he slowly walks past him.

"We haven't got all day!" Bront growls. "My daughter is in danger, you idiot – or didn't you think about that!"

Bront's words remind our Heroes that indeed they came to the cave with a job to do and so they press forward. Lil looks ahead, holding up the lit orb in order to see what lies in front of them; however, after around twenty feet, the light reaches no more and she cannot see far enough into the darkness. She then turns to her right and the light immediately illuminates a tunnel, moving out of the room.

"We can either continue forward into that darkness, or we can go down this tunnel to my right," Lil simply states.

"Hmph, why don't you decide?" Bront grunts. "You're obviously the smarter of your duo."

Locke simply spits slightly from his mouth, though it is more just blowing air than actual throwing a wad of spit; in the mean time, considering her options, Lil finally says, "Let's go forward."

The trio then continue to move slowly forwards with the light from Lilanei's orb now shining and revealing more of the cave. Before them, some twenty feet in front, the light of Lil's orb just catches the wall of the cave as well as a large entry into another area; however, before they can fully establish their surroundings, Lil's orb flickers and the light dies, shrouding our Heroes in darkness once more.

"Who turned out the flipping lights?" Locke cries, annoyed.

With a sigh, which could be heard in the darkness, Lil relights the orb and the trio slightly gasp in horror as they look towards the entrance f the tunnel in front of them – as what has now appeared are two large Deathjump Spiders, both of them barring our Heroes' entrance into the next room. Our Heroes look on and as they try to slowly move, they realize once again to their horror that the Deathjump Spiders can easily and quickly negotiate the webbing which restricts our Heroes' movements.

The Deathjump Spiders do not hesitate as they rush towards the trio, screeching as they have been disturbed while their fangs twitch back and fourth – ready to receive the blood of a fresh kill. Bront looks on at the predators and lets out a roar of anger as he rushes as quick as he can due to the restriction of the webbing. He now stands beside Lil and not too far away from a brown Deathjump Spider. Realizing that his Warhammer won't reach it, he once again pulls out his crossbow and loads it, which he then points at the brown Deathjump. He aims and targets the head of the Deathjump Spider before he then pulls the trigger, sending the arrow flying. The brown Deathjump sees the arrow coming with one of its bug eyes, but is too late to react as the arrow collides with the side of its head, now protruding from the spider's head.

The brown Deathjump Spider screeches before it reacts, turning on the webbing slightly. It looks towards Bront before it quickly slings itself across the webbing and raises its fang once in front of the Dwarf as it attempts to take a bite out of him; however, Bront raises his crossbow, which the Deathjump Spider tries to bite. Bront holds on to the crossbow before he then lifts his leg up off the webbing and slowly but firmly kicks the brown Spider in the face, causing it to miss its bite. Standing her ground, Lil glares at the brown Deathjump which has just attempted to attack Bront before thrusting her finger and pointing it at the spider as she mutters angrily beneath her breathe. Immediately, the Spider twitches before its body suddenly erupts into a roaring orange flame – the flame of which fully illuminates the cave and causes the webbing beneath it to burn. In fact, the fire follows along the trail of webbing, singing it and causing it to dry up as it loses its sticky texture. The flame, just as quickly as it erupts on the webbing, dies away, allowing our Heroes free movement within the room they currently stand in.

The hairy Deathjump Spider cowers slightly as Lil has caused its fellow spider to erupt into flame – fire being one thing giant spiders of this realm are very much afraid of. Still, the spider realizes it must defend itself and therefore makes an attack towards Locke, moving swiftly and attempting to bite him; however, now freed of the webbing and able to move at full speed, Locke leaps a few feet into the air causing the spider misses with its attempted bite. Locke unsheathes his sickle once more and charges at the hairy Deathjump Spider, but the spider opens its giant mouth and spits out a ball of webbing which hits Locke directly in the face. Locke stops in his tracks and begins to pull at the webbing which has covered his eyes.

With the brown Deathjump Spider now momentarily extinguished of its flames, Bront grabs his Warhammer which he holds so that the hammer rests on his right shoulder. He immediately lifts the hammer and swings it towards the left in a swiping motion, attempting to hit the spider in the face much like a bat would strike a ball. The Warhammer collides with the side of the brown spider's face, causing it to spew brown mucus from its mouth before it lets out a high pitched screech of pain. Now bleeding a strange dark black blood, the spider looks towards Lil and shrieks before it attempts to charge at her, its mouth now dripping with mucus as it attempts to take another bite out of one of our Heroes. It succeeds and its fangs bite into Lil's previously bitten shoulder, its fangs sinking deep into the skin and causing blood to gush out of the wound as Lil cries in horrific pain.

Suddenly, as the pain inflicted to her washes through Lil's body, her anger rises and her eyes suddenly glow as the spider screeches once more. It takes its fangs out of Lil's shoulder before its body once again is engulfed in flames – the flames now hotter and more of a dark orange than before. The sheer heat from the flames causes the brown Deathjump Spider to collapse to the dirt floor as its body begins to dry up and shrivel slightly, its skin peeling and falling to the ground much like charred paper. As Lil then lets out a whimper of pain, she notices Locke who is now stumbling about the cave as he cannot see due to the webbing on his face – which also restricts his air intake and so with each passing second causes his movements to become slower. With a sense of urgency, Lil rushes to Locke's side where she suddenly thrusts her palm into his face, clutching the webbing and at the same time shoving Locke by his head to his left, as the webbing tears away from his face as a result. Lil now stands in front of the hairy Deathjump Spider, and as she pants in pain and swats the webbing from her hand, adrenaline rushes through her causing he to feel slightly empowered and invigorated as the blood begins to clot on her shoulder.

Seeing its new target, the hairy spider lowers itself to the ground before it then leaps into the air and rushes at Lil in a dive. The spider's front legs collide with Lil's chest before it follows with its full body weight, shoving Lil down to the ground – the force of which knocks the wind out of her. Now seeing Lil unable to move under its body weight, the Hairy Deathjump points its web sack at Lil's feet and begins to excrete a string of webbing which ties around them and slowly begins to move upward towards her ankles and so on – as it begins an attempt to engulf Lil in a cocoon.

"Lilanei!" Locke cries in horror as he sees his friend under the massive body of the hairy Deathjump.

Immediately clutching his sickle, Locke rushes forth towards the spider in an attempt to set Lil free from its grasp. He barges his shoulder into the side of the Deathjump Spider before he grips the hair on its body tightly with his hand, and then plunges his jagged sickle deep into the side of the Deathjump Spider's body – causing the spider to screech in pain as it immediately withdraws and crawls off of Lil. The flames which engulfed the brown Deathjump Spider once again flicker and die out after Lil was restrained by the hairy Deathjump Spider. The brown spider begins to blow brown bubbles of mucus out of its mouth as it tries to recover from its serious injuries. As it is distracted and disorientated, Bront uses this time to attempt a killing blow. Taking his Warhammer, Bront charges at the Deathjump Spider and with a cry, holds the hammer before his head, before slamming it down into the top of the brown Deathjump Spider's head after which the Spider quickly drops chin first to the ground, dead.

Without the burden of the hairy Deathjump Spider weighing her down, Lilanei immediately unsheathes her dagger and begins to saw away at the webbing which binds her feet and ankles together. The hairy Deathjump Spider is about to make its way back towards Lil when it hears Locke shout towards it. With its attention now on Locke, the spider charges towards him, its fangs dripping in saliva as it charges. Suddenly, Lilanei's orb, which lies on the ground and was illuminating the room once again, flickers out. The change in the light of the room causes the spider to very briefly lose its bearings as its eyes readjust to the darkness of the cave. As it does, it realizes that Locke has used this time to swiftly move out of the reach of the Deathjump Spider, when it suddenly feels something pierce its lower back. The Spider screeches as it realizes that Locke has struck it once again with his sickle, this time on its back, near its web sack. Immediately pressing on the advantage he has, Locke pulls the sickle out of the spider's lower back before he makes another attempted strike with it. However, due to the darkness of the room, Locke's attempted swipe falls a little short and the sickle simply strikes at air. Due to the heavy darkness of the room, Bront also cannot see his target; instead he stumbles around in his general area, trying to figure where the sounds of the hairy Deathjump Spider are coming from.

As Lil saws away at the webbing binding her ankles, there comes a final snap as the last of the webbing is cut away. With an exasperated sigh, Lil snatches her orb from the ground next to her, the sphere relighting the darkness of the room within her hands. Lilanei immediately jumps to her feet and rushes at the spider, attempting to strike the spider with her already unsheathed dagger. She thrusts the dagger straight into the front of the spider's right fang, cutting the fang off, which causes brown mucus to drip from the wound. Enraged by the pain and the fact one of its most effective weapons has been hacked off, the spider immediately sets its sights for Lil. It screeches and once again leaps through the air attempting to tackle Lil to the ground. Seeing the spider leap into the air, Lil predicts the hairy Deathjump's attempted attack and therefore leaps backwards – the spider missing its target but landing gracefully on all eight legs on the dirt ground under it. As the arachnid lands on the ground, Locke leaps towards it in an attack of his own. With the sickle in hand, Locke grabs the spider by the side of its head before he strikes with his weapon, slashing the side of its face before he then shoves it backwards and leaps away from the spider – seeing blood surfacing from the spider's facial wound.

Immediately after Locke leaps away from the spider, Bront charges forward, his Warhammer once again resting on his right shoulder. Once he is within striking distance, Bront lifts the hammer and swipes it to the left in another striking bat like motion; however, his attempted strike just falls short of its target as Bront misjudges the distance and the hammer simply strikes air. After Bront's attack misses, Lilanei then takes her turn to leap and strike at the spider, her dagger poised and ready to hack at its other fang; nonetheless, the Spider screeches and jumps backward five feet, causing Lilanei to miss also. The spider watches Lil intently as Lil looks back at it. Once more, it leaps towards Lil and tackles her to the floor, the determination to kill Lilanei seemingly etched into its mind. Once landing on the ground violently, back first, Lil feels the urgent need to spit up, which she does as blood violently spits up out of her mouth and into the spider's face.

Locke rushes at the Spider as it is still on top of Lil. Within a few strides, Locke leaps into the air and lands on the hairy Deathjump's head, where he then takes his sickle and hacks at the Spider's remaining fang – causing the fang to drop off its head and land on the ground beside it. The spider screeches violently and begins to writhe, trying to throw Locke off of it, but Locke grips the spider tightly and repositions himself so he is in front of the spider's eyes. Locke bends his legs and snaps them out, kicking the spider in the face – the force of which sends the spider backwards five feet as Locke lands gracefully behind Lilanei. With both of its fangs gone, the Spider becomes stunned and tries to recover from the beating. Bront takes this time to once again prepare himself by raising his Warhammer up into the air before he swings it at the hairy Deathjump's body. The large and heavy Warhammer strikes the spider in the side of its body violently, causing the Spider to be thrown a couple of feet away from him. The Deathjump drops to its side immediately as Bront observes the arachnid's now impacted side – its insides crushed beyond belief as the creature twitches for a moment and then lies dead on the floor. Looking at Bront, Locke smiles slightly before he raises his thumb up at the Dwarf approvingly.