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

"Team work!" He exclaims.

"Hm," Bront grunts. "Get to your feet, girl. We need to carry on."

Locke kneels down beside Lilanei and places his one hand under her chin so he can inspect her wounds. Lil coughs, some more blood dripping from her mouth which Locke tenderly wipes away with his thumb before he takes his hand from her chin, wraps his arms around her upper body, and lifts her to her feet, still holding on tightly as the support turns into a hug.

Lil smiles faintly as she says, "I'll be okay. . ."

"I thought I was going to lose you," Locke says quietly. "Don't leave me. Especially with that crabby old midget."

Lil's smile grows wider as she softly pushes herself away from Locke so she can stand under her own power. Lil then runs her hand along the top of the orb which she still holds, re-energizing the now dimming light. Bront simply shakes his head, annoyed at the time wasted between the whispers that go on between Lil and Locke. All is silent for a moment before a familiar sound pierces the air – the wail of a frightened baby.

"Quickly!" Bront cries. "My child! I hear her!"

Without waiting for our Heroes, Bront immediately rushes forth through the tunnel mouth before his strides slow down as the ground is once again covered by webbing. Locke and Lilanei follow Bront, not wanting to lose him, as they make their way through the tunnel mouth to see Bront once again struggling – the web this time much stronger than the previous batch, causing their strides to become even slower! Lil's orb fills the room with light; however the light doesn't penetrate the end of the room. The baby's cry can still be heard. In fact it sounds so loud that Lil's keen sense of hearing leads her to believe the baby may be in this very room!

Holding her orb in front of her, she whispers, "If we're going to see anything, we must move forward. The baby can't be far now."

As the trio move forward, the orb further illuminates the darkness and our Heroes see that many skeletons of long dead adult Dwarves and Dwarven infants line the floor on which they stand, along with the thick webbing. Locke turns his head from left to right, scanning the ceiling and seeing slimy white orbs hanging from it.

His eyebrow twitches slightly as he looks to Bront and asks, "What are those?"

"Spider eggs," Bront simply states, his voice seemingly far away as his eyes scan the room for the baby; finally at the head of the room, the light on the orb glints on a golden rectangular shaped box, to which the cries seem to emanate from.

"She's there!" Locke cries excitedly. "The baby!"

The trio move forward once again, when a familiar voice echoes throughout the cave.

"Eh heh heh heh. . . Welcome."

The trio stop in mid-movement as Lil waves her orb about the room frantically. After a few moments, she notices what appears to be a spider hole, which seems to have some movement within it. After a moment, the trio notice a long brown leg slip out from the hole before it is followed by a body – the body being that of the Ettercap which had once been Yurla. The Ettercap slinks along the webbing which impedes our Heroes as it strides across the room and stands in front of the makeshift cradle – blocking Bront and our Heroes from the baby.

"What a special treat," the Ettercap sneers venomously. "You're just in time for dinner. My babies are soon to hatch," the Ettercap says, now motioning around its lair to the walls, "but before dinner, I think some. . . pre-meal entertainment is in order."

With that, another Ettercap slinks out from the narrow spider hole and quickly moves alongside the female Ettercap, clutching a great axe tightly in one of its many arms.

"This is my mate," She remarks. "Welcome to our home. I hope you can stay for dinner. . . In fact, I think you might be the main course!"

Typically, Locke announces, "That's your mate, eh?" Locke says, giving a slight shiver. "Jeez, if he looks like that, and you look. . . well. . . yeah. . . then you've got some ugly suckers on the way!"

"Silence, human!" The female Ettercap snaps. "While I enjoy watching my mate finish you off, I shall. . . prepare myself for the nourishing meal I have here."

The Ettercap then reaches one of its many long arms behind it and softly strokes the baby's hair, causing it to cry even louder as if to mock our Heroes.

"No!" Lilanei screams in sheer fright. "Leave that poor baby alone! It's done you no wrong!"

"Indeed," the Ettercap replies. "In fact, it's going to do everything right, for my mate and I. As well as our pets and our many children who are about to be born. The blood of an infant Dwarf can nourish a hive of Ettercap for a long time, and this one. . . Well, this one is fresh and very prime, yes. Your kind may have wiped out my last hive of children," the Ettercap spouts accusingly to Bront, "but this time, we shan't be denied. My mate and I planned to lead a couple of gullible 'suckers,' as you call them, child," she then motions to Locke and Lil, "into Tuli to take a prime specimen for us! And you played your part brilliantly."

Lilanei's lip begins to quiver as tears once again begin to rush down her cheeks in sheer guilt. Bront growls and steps forward, clutching his Warhammer tightly.

"You sickening insect!" Bront cries towards both Ettercaps. "My people wiped your children out before, and now with my friends here we're going to finish you off and rid Tuli of this vile pestilence!"

"Ha-ha, too true!" Locke says, brandishing his sickle. "We're the exterminators!"

"Well then," the Ettercap begins. "It looks like the show is about to begin. Get them, love!"

Immediately, Locke clutches his sickle tightly and chuckles, the excitement of the new fight – combined with the fact that the baby is so close to them – lights a fire inside his soul. Immediately, he charges for the Ettercap's mate. Once in front of it, Locke takes his sickle and faster than the Ettercap can see, Locke attempts to strike a blow. The sickle connects, slashing the Ettercap in the chest as Locke grips the larger creature with his free hand. After he has dealt the slash, Locke swings his feet, kicking the Ettercap in the gut and forcing it to slide backwards in a diagonal direction as he then leaps off the Ettercap. Digging its heels into the ground, the Ettercap stops directly in front of Bront. Taking its great axe, the Ettercap swings the axe towards Bront, to which he slightly lowers his head causing the blade of the axe to catch the Dwarf's helmet. While the axe fails to fully penetrate Bront's helmet and connect with his skin, the impact of the blow sends a literal shockwave through Bront's head. Bront stands, slightly shaken, but he hears the cry of his baby once more as the Ettercap stares down at it, mucus dripping down into the crib beside it. Seeing this, Bront lets out a cry as he takes his Warhammer and in the same vein as the Ettercap did, he attempts a strike with his great Warhammer at the Ettercap's lower torso. The impact of the heavy hammer hitting the Ettercap in the lower torso causes the Ettercap to scream out in sheer agony as it stumbles slightly from the blow.

Until now awaiting her opportunity, Lil finally holds her hands extended in front of her as she begins to chant quietly. Suddenly, the room becomes black as her orb runs out of power; however, it is soon illuminated again by the giant ball of fire which begins to manifest itself to the direct left of Yurla's mate. The fire ball surges with heat and power, sitting itself by the Ettercap and burning it fiercely. As the Ettercap struggles to maintain its focus due to the harsh burn from the fireball, Locke immediately rushes into battle once more. Before the Ettercap can react, Locke rushes to its left side, with his sickle fully brandished. He then thrusts the sickle forward as the blade pierces the Ettercap's lower torso, and immediately the wound begins to ooze black blood. The Ettercap turns to Locke, fully enraged that he has drawn blood from it. He hoists his axe up, ready to deal a blow, but as he does, the fireball Lilanei had created earlier begins to surge more intensely, causing the Ettercap to be burnt even more. The Ettercap is now weakened, but is not beaten as it swings its great axe at Locke. Being constricted by the webbing, Locke simply ducks, missing the swipe of the axe; however the axe takes some strands of his hair off. At this point, Bront still stands directly in front of the Ettercap, his Warhammer once again poised and ready to deal a heavy blow.

"For my wife!" Bront cries, his voice filled with anguish over his loss.

Bront raises his Warhammer and smashes his it into the very burnt lower body of the Ettercap. Unbelievably, the Warhammer strikes its body, and as it does, its lower body simply shatters into thousands of ashes as its upper drops to the floor, vital organs and black blood spewing out under its body as its upper body slinks towards the floor, dead.

"No!" The female Ettercap cries aloud in anguish. "My mate!"

"Now you know my heavy burden!" Bront cries, tears streaming down his face into his long beard as he remembers his wife. "It's an eye for an eye, you disgusting insect! Return my baby now, or I shall kill you!"

"Hahahaha!" The Ettercap laughs. "You think you can kill me? Very well, we shall fight for the baby! If you defeat me, you walk out of here with your precious daughter; however, if I win – and I will – your daughter becomes a delicacy, and you all die!"

"We just killed your Orc-ugly insect friend, wench!" Locke yells, spitting on the male Ettercap as he does. "You'll fall just like he did!"

Lilanei, who still manipulates the fireball, glares daggers at the Ettercap – her eyes glowing a slight red as she cries, "We'll make sure of that!"

Saying nothing, the Ettercap simply screeches, her fangs lifting and revealing her large saliva and mucus covered mouth to our trio. Gripping her spear tightly, the Ettercap slinks down the mass network of webbing that crisscrosses her lair as she then stands in front of and towers over our Heroes – even her spear being larger than the tallest of the party, Locke.

"Come on then!" The Ettercap cries, spewing brown mucus from her hungry lips. "Take the baby, if you can!"

"Watch me now!" Locke cries as he waves the blade of his sickle tauntingly in front of the Ettercap in response to her challenge.

Immediately, Locke attempts to dash towards the Ettercap, forgetting that the webbing is thick under his boots and therefore impedes his stride. He stumbles as the Ettercap simply laughs and shoves Locke away with her palm, rendering his attempted attack useless. Lilanei, motioning with both of her hands, manipulates the fireball into moving forward next to the giant Ettercap's side. She then tenses her fingers, causing the fireball to lash out at Yurla with its hot flames, the flames licking at the female Ettercap's many left legs and causing her to screech out in pain due to insects being more vulnerable to fire.

"You'll pay for this!" The Ettercap hisses almost like a snake as it grips her spear tightly in her right hand.

Pointing her left hand towards the ceiling, the Ettercap, much to our Heroes surprise, lets out a stream of webbing from its palm. The webbing sticks to the ceiling above them before she swings off the webbed floor, seemingly flying over the fireball as she swings around, making a crescent movement towards Lilanei. She raises her spear, and once Lilanei is in her sights, the Ettercap strikes out with the spear in an attempt to stab Lilanei in the side. The spear reaches its intended target as the sharp tip of the weapon strikes through Lil's attire, slicing its way into Lil's short ribs. Lilanei screams and struggles to remain on her feet as she begins to bleed profusely from her many wounds. Seeing this, Bront decides to act as he lifts his mighty Warhammer once more and, despite being entangled in the web, attempts to rush at the Ettercap. Having to yank his Warhammer harder from where it was, due to webbing sticking to it, Bront attempts an almighty hit on the evil creature. As it lands, Bront swings the hammer, laying down his full fury through the swing. The hammer collides with one of the Ettercap's already wounded legs, the force of the blow forming a large bruise and dent in the enemy's leg. The Ettercap screeches in pain and lifts its leg, unable to use it but it is compensated by having many other legs to use.

Being restrained by the webbing, Locke can only move five feet forwards before his legs begin to tire. Deciding to keep his position, he grabs his crossbow and loads it with an arrow from his quiver. Quickly, Locke aims the arrow at the Ettercap's face as it is distracted by Bront and Lilanei in front of it. He squeezes the trigger and shoots off the arrow which flies towards the Ettercap's face, before he grabs another arrow and fires that off, finally before firing off another arrow so that a barrage of pointed tips now fly towards our Heroes' enemy. The arrows all hit their intended target, plunging into the Ettercap's large face – blood now spewing from the open wounds in its face as it steps back and screeches, momentarily losing its sense of sight.

As she's losing a lot of blood due to the wound in her ribs, Lilanei's vision blurs and she momentarily loses her concentration as she clutches the wound, giving off a slight whimper of pain. She then quickly reaches into her bag and pops off the cork of her healing potion as she rapidly drinks the liquid down. She then resumes control of the fireball, and once again attempts to manipulate it into attacking the Ettercap. The fireball rages violently as the Ettercap turns its head, its eyes widening in horror as it and our Heroes watch on – the fireball seemingly engulfing the Ettercap's entire body. Locke shields his face from the intense heat as the Ettercap screeches violently and begins to flail its arms, its spear dropping from its hand as the temperature of the fireball causes the Ettercap's body to begin disintergrating from the heat. Finally, the top of its head turns to ash. The fireball goes out, leaving the ash to drop into a pile to the ground, with "Yurla" the Ettercap now finally defeated. For a moment, the trio look on in silence and in sheer disbelief that the Ettercap has been slain as the last of the flame extinguishes on the ground, shrouding the room in darkness.

"Is that it?" Locke asks. "Is it over?"

The room is illuminated once again as Lil retrieves her orb and lights it with her magic.

"Aye, I believe it is," Bront announces, looking down at the ash that was once the Ettercap. "Hm," he then turns to Lilanei and Locke before exclaiming, "the beast that haunted my town has been defeated. . . It appalls me to say this, but thank you."

Lilanei shakes her head, "We don't deserve your thank you, after what we have done to you. We seek no gratitude. We are merely doing what is right."

She then turns her head over to the cradle before retrieving the baby's toy from her bag which she had pocketed earlier; handing it to Bront, she then says, "Your daughter is waiting for you."

Bront takes the toy in his large Dwarven hand. Slowly, he traverses across the spider's webbing and climbs the few steps carefully to where his daughter lies – her cries still echoing throughout the cave. Dropping his Warhammer, Bront picks up his daughter who immediately begins to calm down as he clutches her tightly to him.

Locke looks towards Lilanei and announces, "We'd better get out of here. These Ettercap babies could hatch at any minute and we don't want to be here when they do!"

Lil nods and replies, "I agree."

"Yes, we should go," Bront states as he smiles to his child before he then looks over to Locke and Lilanei, glaring towards them, "but do not think for a moment that by helping me, you have settled what you did tonight. It was unforgivable, and we will discuss it once we return to Tuli."

Sometime later, Bront and our Heroes finally make their way out of the Ettercap's lair and finally up the hole that leads back to the surface. It is early morning once Bront and our Heroes return to Tuli, and to the Dwarf's home, with Bront's baby safely in his arms. Outside his home, Bront and our Heroes can see that many Dwarves of Tuli now surround his house and stand with his two sons, all of them eager to see Bront return home. A cheer erupts from the crowd once they see Bront turn the street and walk towards the house with his baby in his arms. Finally, once they stand outside the home, Bront hands the baby to a Dwarven lady, who begins to gently rock the baby who now gurgles happily. Bront looks at our Heroes with all of his hatred before he speaks.

"You two," He hisses. "Because of you, my wife is dead. An important person to Tuli and to me. You two idiots unwittingly killed the Duchess of Tuli!"

Lilanei, in realization, slowly begins, "That means you. . . You are. . .”

"The Duke of Tuli," Bront replies in a grim voice. "And you two, by murdering not just my wife – an innocent woman – but the Duchess have committed a vile crime!" His voice now raises into a shout. "You two will pay! Guards!"

Two Dwarven men, all in knights' armour, surround our Heroes, spears pointed to Locke and Lil's respective heads.

"Slime," Locke announces. "I think we're under arrest. . ."

Lilanei looks on, shock and disbelief in her eyes.

"Hold on!" Locke finally cries. "We didn't realize what we were doing! We're newcomers and we were duped by a sneaky, underhanded Ettercap! Come on! We wouldn't have killed your wife if we knew she was an innocent life! We're not like that!"

Bront's eyes twinkle in the morning sun from tears that he silently sheds over the anguish of his fallen wife, the Duchess. The townsfolk and the guards look towards Bront, wondering what he might say. Finally, he speaks.

"Very well, then," He growls. "I propose this. If you can defeat my guards, I will let you leave Tuli with your dignity; however, keep in the mind that you will never be welcome in Tuli again, so long as I rule this land. If my guards defeat you, you shall spend the rest of your lives in prison here. What say you?"

Lilanei finally speaks up, her own eyes tearing as she cries, "Please. . . We don't want to hurt anymore innocent people!"

The female who holds Bront's baby daughter looks at Lilanei for a moment as she watches the tears fall from her eyes. Sighing, the lady walks over to Bront, places a hand on his shoulder as she holds the baby in one cradled arm and speaks.

"Dear brother," she announces, "these two children are genuine. Please, spare them. I know your wife has died, and that infuriates me as much as it does you, I'm sure. But we only have the Ettercaps to blame and with their help, you defeated them! Surely, you can see that watching these two young lives rot away in prison will not bring you any satisfaction, nor will it bring your wife back."

"Yeah!" Locke cries in agreement. "We're the good guys!"

"Silence!" Bront bellows before he looks towards his sister before he begins once more, "Yurla. . ."

Our Heroes' eyes widen as they realize that the female Dwarf who holds Bront's daughter has blue eyes, long blond curly hair that drapes down her body, and also walks with a waddle.

"My heart does not agree with the words that you speak, but I understand,” Bront finally finishes, “Guards, stand down!"

The two Dwarven guards lower their spears and stand at ease as Bront walks up to Lil and Locke and stands directly in front of them.

"You have done the town of Tuli a great disservice, but at the same time you rescued one of my children and my wife will live on through her. I will let you leave Tuli this day, but be warned – never come back! You will never be welcome here and I hope that the burden of my wife's death hangs on your heads for eternity. Get out of my town!"

"Why, you miserable wretch of a—" Locke begins, his fist tense and shaking in anger.

However, Lilanei, saying nothing, grabs Locke by his quiver and pulls him backwards, forcing Locke to follow her as she begins to walk down the street away from Bront's large home and from the townsfolk who stand in front of it. She finally lets go of Locke as they turn a corner and the two begin to walk towards the other side of Tuli to exit the town as a huge cheer can be heard from Bront's home as the Dwarf townsfolk begin to celebrate the death of the beasts which plagued and the return of Bront's daughter. By the afternoon, Locke and Lilanei have reached the town limits and now stand on a long stretch of dirt road which leads in and out of the town. Locke stops for a moment and looks back towards Tuli before he sighs and looks to Lil.

"Lilanei," Locke begins. "Are you okay?"

Lil shakes her head, to which Locke sighs softly and walks over to her before placing a hand on her shoulder, "What happened in Tuli wasn't your fault, Lil. If anything, the blame rests solely with me. I killed that woman, not you."

"You're as much to blame as I am," Lil finally says. "Locke. . . How can we ever be Heroes if we can't tell the difference between good and evil?"

"You know, Lil," Locke says, "sometimes evil can disguise itself so well it dupes even the wisest of heroes. I'm sure even Akorrin would've been taken in by that Ettercap. Did you see that woman who convinced Bront to let us go? She was the spiting image of the Ettercap's disguise and she was even named Yurla! That Ettercap was just so calculated and thorough with her planning. She knew what she was doing – think about it. The Deathjump that attacked us, 'Yurla' coming out when we were on the ropes and killing it. . . the twinkle in her eyes as the moon shone on them, the Unicorn, the very fact she didn't even want to come in to Bront's home with us? It all adds up! This was a long plan and she executed it perfectly; neither of us could tell what was going on. Those things had haunted Tuli for years by the sound of it and Bront and his people had dealt that thing a heavy blow, so heavy that it decided to change its ways of attack. It sent two people who knew nothing of Tuli or its history with the Ettercaps in to do its dirty work. Just remember this: we saved that baby. If Bront went there alone, or with some of his midgets, he'd have probably been killed."

Lilanei cracks a small grin as she says, "You know, Locke, you actually sound like you know what you're talking about – for once."

"That's because it's the truth," Locke calmly replies, squeezing Lil's shoulder as he sighs and looks towards Tuli. "I suppose we should learn from this – that we can't always go by what our eyes see. Maybe we should listen to our hearts and heads sometimes before we rush in and do anything to help someone. Because despite their pleas, what they want could be for evil. . . It really is food for thought."

A few moments after, our Heroes' begin their slow and heavy walk away from Tuli – the shame and embarrassment of their misdeeds over the last night hanging heavily over their heads as they trek off towards their next destination, in which they will make camp to recover for the night. Our Heroes have learned a great lesson – one that will help them mature and grow from naive young hopefuls, into seasoned Heroes in this world of adventure and magic.