The sky was starting to brighten, but the sun had not yet risen. He looked toward the eastern horizon and studied the distant hills one last time before waking his companions. Flynn studied the dark, rolling silhouettes, and saw nothing amiss. He started to turn toward the center of camp but saw something unusual out of the corner of his eye. The outline of one of the larger hills rippled slightly.
The young man did a double take; his eyes now intensely focused on the distant hill. He squinted as he studied the spot that he was sure he’d seen move unnaturally.
The sun was just starting to rise over the hills, and he had almost given up when he saw the movement again. It looked like a wind had blown across a field of wheat.
Flynn sighed. It was just tall grass blowing in the morning breeze.
He slid down from the boulder and started back toward camp to awake Nyx and Throm, chiding himself for his paranoia.
Flynn stopped dead in his tracks, and a chill ran down his spine.
They had traveled over those hills the day before. He vividly remembered the carpet of clover and small flowers that had covered those hills.
No breeze would cause a ripple in the dense clover, especially not one that could be seen from a great distance in the near-darkness.
“Nyx! Throm! Get up. Something’s coming.”
Flynn turned his attention back to the eastern horizon where the sun was nearly half risen. It now perfectly silhouetted a giant, multi-legged monster on top of one of the hills.
The increased light from the partially risen sun also illuminated a vast carpet of wriggling black creatures in front of the large creature on top of the hill. As he watched two more monsters appeared atop adjacent hills. His gaze lingered for a moment, his eyes bouncing from the living carpet to the now-three silhouetted monsters on the hills.
“Spiders,” Flynn breathed then shouted to his companions, “Spiders are coming. Lots of them, and three of them are huge!”
He turned to his companions who were rising from their bedrolls, but far too slowly for his liking.
“I said there’s spiders coming!” the young man repeated more urgently.
Throm stretched his arms out and yawned. “I heard ya. Fought spiders before. They’re not a big problem unless they swarm over you.”
Flynn threw his hands in the air. “So hundreds of them might be a problem.”
The mercenary pushed himself to his feet and shrugged. “Still shouldn’t be a problem. Just takes a while to kill them all.”
Flynn turned to Nyx, hoping to get some help increasing the overall sense of urgency, but the blue-haired woman seemed even less concerned than Throm. He shook his head and turned his attention back to the approaching horde.
The sun had fully crested the horizon, and now that there was more-or-less full daylight, Flynn could start to pick out individual spiders within the writhing mass that approached. A shiver ran down his spine, and his grip on the weapons he now held in his hands tightened.
He hated spiders.
Fortunately, the three large spiders seemed content to stay on top of the distant hill as the wave of smaller spiders approached.
The scurrying creatures were still several hundred yards away, but they were approaching fast. Flynn focused on one of closest spiders.
Name: Bristleback Spider
Level: Advanced
Loot: Basic Card Fragment
Bristleback Spiders are swarm monsters with dark hair-covered bodies that blend into the shadows. The thick bristles that cover their bodies can both sense movement and provide a small amount of defense. Needlelike teeth deliver a weak venom that can slowly incapacitate victims if enough venom is injected. Individually, Bristleback Spiders are little more than a nuisance, but a swarm can take down even large foes. When battling these creatures, it is critical to avoid being swarmed over where a large number of bites can quickly accumulate and incapacitate.
The loot wasn’t particularly impressive, but the creatures didn’t sound too intimidating. There were also a lot of the monsters, so there would be a lot of fragments to loot after the battle.
Flynn nodded, confidence slowly building inside him. At least they should be easy to kill.
A screech sounded from above and he looked up to see Nyx’s familiar, Stormfeather. The bird flew toward the mass of spiders, and a moment later the Thunderhawk unleashed a bolt of lightning.
The attack exploded amongst the monsters and dozens flew away from the impact.
A second blast of lightning sent another group of spiders flying.
Flynn couldn’t help but smile.
A moment later that thought was put to the test when a spider that had reached the campsite before its friends leaped toward him unexpectedly.
An instinctive swipe of his sword sliced the creature in half.
Then his battle hammer smashed down on another spider that was scurrying toward him. The monster exploded on impact.
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“This might not be as bad as I thought,” he declared as Throm stepped up next to him on one side and Nyx appeared on his other.
The trio stepped toward the wave of spiders that was nearly upon him and the battle started in earnest.
Nyx’s glaive skewered one spider before tossing it aside then sliced through a second.
Throm’s large war hammer smashed down on a group of spiders, smashing at least three of the hairy, eight-legged beasts.
Then Flynn stepped into the fray, his weapons a blur. His Hammer Shield special ability blocked spiders attacking while his sword stabbed and sliced. Then his curtain of blades defended him while his battle hammer smashed more spiders. Each strike killed a spider, and he was soon covered in guts and gore.
But the spiders kept coming.
He quickly realized that his estimate of hundreds of Bristleback Spiders was more likely thousands, and for each creepy, crawly creature he killed three took its place.
It was a losing battle, and he knew it.
Flynn stepped back from the battle and summoned Thunderbough. He had avoided doing so up to that point because he knew his familiar would struggle against the vast number of monsters, but now knew they needed all the help they could get.
As the Eldersloth appeared from within a swirling mist of green light, Flynn saw that Nyx was running into the same problem that he’d faced.
Each time her glaive slashed or stabbed, one or two spiders died, but it wasn’t enough to keep the nearly endless horde at bay. The blue-haired woman was slowly losing ground and the whole group risked being surrounded. And then over run.
Stormfeather and Throm were their saving grace. Stormfeather’s lightning attacks ravaged the back ranks of the spider hoard, and Throm’s war hammer smashed those that were close. Each time the mercenary swung his huge weapon, three or four spiders died. It was just enough to keep the monsters from over running them.
And then, as if sensing their perilous position, Throm used a special attack that came with the Shattered Earth card he’d looted the day before.
The ground exploded as the mercenary smashed his war hammer into the monsters and dozens of the creatures were sent flying, clearing the area immediately around them.
Flynn didn’t know exactly what the Shattered Earth card did, but he was now very glad the mercenary had chosen to use the Advanced rank card instead of waiting.
He turned to his Eldersloth familiar. “Can you draw some of the spiders away from us?”
Thunderbough nodded, his ever-present goofy grin on his face. “Thunder . . . roll . . . and . . . taunt.”
Flynn nodded and his familiar quickly—relatively speaking—curled into a ball and rolled toward the horde of spiders.
The mass of spiders almost immediately started swarming the rolling sloth, but the hairy creature paid them no attention and moved deep into the mass of Bristleback Spiders, rolling over any that got in his way.
Flynn immediately returned to the battle where the spiders had recovered from Throm’s Shattered Earth attack and were again threatening to swarm over them. His hammer and sword slayed monsters with each strike, but the battle was quickly turning in favor of the scurrying eight-legged creatures again.
Then Thunderbough unleashed his Elite rank Tranquil Taunt on the swarm of Advanced level monsters and the battle immediately changed.
Flynn looked toward his familiar who was now nearly fifty yards away, standing tall amidst an uncountable mass of Bristleback Spiders who had all frozen for an instant after the taunt. The horde of spiders began to hiss, and the air was suddenly filled with an angry vibration that could be felt more than heard.
Nearly every spider on the battlefield turned and skittered toward the Eldersloth. In mere moments, there was a mountain of writing spiders where the sloth had stood.
Pain exploded from Flynn’s calf, and he stabbed down and skewered the spider that had just bitten him.
The words from his Bristleback Spider analysis echoed in his head and he realized he had just sent his familiar into the exact situation the monster description had warned to avoid.
“We need to help Thunder!” Flynn shouted and raced toward his familiar.
Overhead, Stormfeather began unleashing lightning strikes on the mountain of spiders, each blast sending dozens of the creatures flying, but it barely made a dent in the ever-growing mound.
Flynn activated his Crushing Blow and Double Double special abilities then triggered Bull Rush.
He smashed into the writhing mass covering his familiar an instant later and delivered the most powerful, two-weapon attack he was capable of.
The mountain of Bristleback Spiders exploded, sending hundreds of monsters flying in every direction. Flynn knew many of them weren’t dead, but he didn’t care. His entire focus was on freeing his familiar from the countless attacks he’d been enduring.
With Thunderbough momentarily freed of attacking spiders, Flynn looked around and could see the mass of monsters was quickly scampering back toward them.
Unsure of exactly what to do next, Flynn grabbed his familiar by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “Get back to Nyx and Throm!”
He quickly moved back behind Thunderbough and put his hands under the Eldersloth’s arms and started to spin around. The large familiar was pulled off the ground and spun around in a circle several times before Flynn released him, heaving him back toward the camp using all the power his Strength of Arms card gave him.
Thunderbough spun around so he was looking down at the mass of spiders as he soared through the air and spread his arms and legs wide.
Flynn received a mental image from his familiar of a sloth with a cape flying through the clouds. He couldn’t see it, but Flynn knew Thunderbough had a goofy grin on his face. A moment later, the Eldersloth crashed down onto a group of spiders, squishing at least a dozen or more of the monsters.
The Eldersloth promptly curled up into a ball and rolled back toward the camp where Throm and Nyx were doing their best to keep the monsters at bay. Stormfeather unleashed lightning attacks to clear the path for his fellow familiar.
Flynn turned his attention to the hills for a moment and saw the three large spiders were still standing there. The sun had risen high enough that it shined down on the monsters now, instead of silhouetting them, and he could make out more details, including the fact that smaller spiders were continuing to stream forward from where the three larger spiders stood.
Flynn found he could now analyze the monsters.
Name: Bristleback Spider Queen
Level: Epic
Loot: Epic Card Fragment
Bristleback Spider Queens are colossal broodmothers that birth, raise, and control large armies of spiders. These creatures are far more dangerous than their offspring, and each leg is tipped with a spear-like barb that can pierce steel. Their venom is also more potent and can paralyze prey with a single bite. Despite their formidable physical prowess, their true power comes from the absolute control they exert over vast hordes of smaller spiders. When facing these dangerous monsters, you are forced to fight a near endless horde of minions that will continue to attack as long as the queen is alive, or you can turn your back on the multitudes and try to bring down the queen before you are buried by her army.
A shiver ran down his spine, but he knew there wasn’t time to dwell on the queens. With the source of their ire gone, the multitude of Bristleback Spiders that now surrounded Flynn, turned their attention on him.
“Time to go,” he declared and activated the special ability from his Fleet Feet card.
Special Ability: Dash
Dash grants a burst of Speed and acceleration that is multiple times faster than card wielder’s current Speed.
Duration: 1 second
Cooldown: 1 minute
A second later, Flynn was back at the edge of campsite where Nyx and Throm still battled the spiders. Thunderbough rolled into camp a moment later and stood to his full height.
Safe at the campsite once again, Flynn took a moment to analyze the battle. Throm was more than holding his own, his large war hammer squishing spiders faster than they could attack. Blood, guts, and gore dripped from the mercenary.
Nyx had also adopted a fighting style that included more sweeping strikes that took out multiple monsters at a time. She was able to keep herself from being overrun, but only barely.
Flynn’s sword and hammer would help hold the horde at bay, but he knew that time was not on their side. Sooner or later, the large spiders would enter the battle, and it would be impossible to battle the Epic level Spider Queens and the mass of smaller monsters.
“We need to take out the queens,” Flynn said, not exactly sure how to do that.
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