ITT: We Are Monsters on a Spooky Quest

Gyah! You guys saw that, too, right? (Jacoby yelps.)

Uh, yeah, me too. (Elisa says.)

"A monster?" whispers Silas. "Shall we slay it?"

Rosamund is silent, but has gone suddenly very still, with a glow in her hands that looks like an explosion waiting to go off.

Kevan, offended, glared at Rosamund for calling her "lizard".

Then Bird-Thing touched a stalagmite, causing it to wiggle for some reason. At this point, Kevan was done waiting.

   "What do you think? Let's get this over with before it tries to slay us!"    Kevan impatiently roared, breathing fire at the stalagmite.

Edited by Scipion3 on Jul 24th 2023 at 10:47:39 AM

The stalagmite catches fire and starts running around frantically. It's actually an unusually large twig spider.

The other stalagmites and stalactites reveal themselves as spiders too. The monsters are surrounded, and they're still at the beginning of the cave.

"Oh no," says Melvin.

"Great, spiders." Silas mumbles, before telekinetically pulling swords out of his body and sending them towards the spiders. He wasn't sure if it would even kill them, but he hoped he could at least drive them back.

"To the exit!" he bellows.

The monsters run towards the end of the cave. The spiders are catching up, though. Some spiders start crawling on Melvin and Eleanor, but their snake tongues dart out and eat the spiders.

"We're almost at the end!" says Melvin.

(Jacoby just has one arm over his eyes as he runs through the corridor.)

Jackie, you’re not gonna be able to see where you’re going! (Elisa warns him.)

I’m just following you guys footsteps…! (Jacoby says in a shaky voice.)

Kevan pretty much flew around, trying to protect the other monsters from the spiders with his fire breath and his sword. But as he was doing so, Jocoby, who was running without his eyes open, stepped on Kevan's tail, causing the latter's eyes to widen before he let out a long scream.

   "YEOOOOOOW!!! WATCH IT DAMN IT!!!"    Kevan roared at Jacoby, holding his tail.

GAHHHHH I’M SORRYYYYY!!! (Jacoby bellows.)

See, Jackie? What’d I tell ya? Just stay right behind us and we’ll get out! (Elisa says.)

(Jacoby nods and keeps in step behind Elisa, pointedly making sure he doesn’t step on anybody else’s tail. Now that he knows where he is actually running, he is successful in doing so.)

Edited by kablammin45 on Aug 2nd 2023 at 11:45:57 AM

The monsters reach the red double doors at the end of the cave. The spiders all gather a few feet away from the door and stop, as if they're not sure what to do.

Get back, you fools! These intruders are mine to deal with now! says the ominous voice, which is much louder now.

The spiders run back down the cave.

So, you've made it to the top of my tower. I don't know how you managed to beat my challenges, but you won't beat me! Come inside whenever you're ready... if you dare!

Silas

"A villain?" He noticeably perks up. "Let us go!" Silas bellows, rushing in to where the voice came from.

Eleanor opens the double doors and lets the monsters in.

Inside is a luxurious throne room, but everything is in disrepair and covered in cobwebs. The entire back wall is covered in webs. In the middle of the web is a strange, furry, blue creature. His head looks a bit like a fox, but his two arms and two legs are more like tarantula legs, and he has four huge tarantula legs coming from his back.

Welcome to the top of the tower, he says. I am Erik, king of Spiderbite Swamp!

A Crystal Bat is wrapped in very thick webs on the back wall. Looking for this?

(Jacoby's relief at being through the corridor gives way to immediate fear upon seeing Erik.) GAH!! I mean...um...yes... (He squeaks.)

You got it! (Elisa nods.)

"Perhaps?" Silas shrugs, his purpose in scaling the tower forgotten. "Good day, Erik. If you may, release the bat and no blood shall be shed."

The bird-creature runs in behind everyone else. Seeing the strange fox-spider creature in front of them, it lets out a greeting more cautious than usual.

"...Hi?"

The team escaped the spiders and finally met with Erik holding the Crystal Bat.

   "So this is one of those bat things you told me about..."    Kevan muttered to himself before pointing his sword at Erik's direction.

   "I'm not one for formalities. We passed your stupid tests. Hand over the thing now."   

Edited by Scipion3 on Aug 4th 2023 at 7:54:35 PM

Rosamund had been expecting something worse than more small-fry, if she was being honest. The shield that burst off of her once the "stalactices" revealed themselves was thus proportionally far too large - though it served the purpose of clearing a wide path for her to make a mad dash down.

She dusts herself off and tries to look formal. Erik is likely nothing more than a self-declared king, but monarchs deserve a certain courtesy nonetheless.

"...I am not normally one to agree with the lizard, but he is correct. You set us a series of trials. We passed. We were promised a certain reward for success. I hope you are a... creature... of your word."

"Yes, I suppose I did say you would have to get past the six floors if you wanted the Crystal Bat..." says Erik, "But, now that you're here, I'd like to test your fighting chops just one last time..."

"And what's this about blood being shed?" he says to Silas. "Well, I certainly don't have blood to shed. I'm not like the spiders. I'm a whole other kind of beast!"

Suddenly, Erik raises his hand. There's a flash of light, and suddenly, everyone is in a strange dimension. They're on a big, floating platform, while the background is black with cobweb patterns.

"Any last words before the games begin?"

"If you wish to fight, I will oblige you." Silas bows, only slightly concerned by the scenery change. "Shall we?" he turns to the monsters he just met. He whispers something, and a few swords remove themselves from his body and hover next to him, pointing towards the beast, whatever it was.

Heeheeheehee! This is gonna be fun! says Erik.

Battle start!

Erik spawns several balls of web, and flings two at each monster.

Melvin and Eleanor dodge the first one, but the second one hits their left foot, making them stuck to the ground.

Melvin and Eleanor are struggling to get their leg free.

"What do we do? Detach our leg?"

"Only as a last resort. We must be able to get out of this eventually!"

Bird-Thing ducks out of the way of the web-balls. Noticing that the frankenstoid creature(s?) has been hit by them, Bird-Thing starts going in their direction to free them.

Silas

Black speech exits the Weaponborn's mouth as the levitating swords spin before shooting towards the creature.

(Although Elisa is agile enough to avoid the webs shot at her, Jacoby is too startled to do so and ends up ensnared.)

Gyahhhh!! Don't eat me! (Jacoby cries.)

Jackie, c'mon, you're a big strong guy, just break through the webs! (Elisa calls to him, attempting to dive-bomb Erik.)

(Jacoby, despite still being incredibly scared, tries to wriggle loose, and ends up bursting his arms out through the webbing.)

(He's too shocked to speak at first, realizing that even if he had been caught in a web beforehand he would have had nothing to worry about. Once the shock wears off, he begins tearing the webbing off himself and gets back up to his feet, trying to think of what on earth he could do next.)

With Bird-Thing's help, Melvin and Eleanor manage to get unstuck from the webs.

"Thank you, friend."

Erik is startled by Silas's swords and fails to dodge them. They all hit him, but instead of bleeding or getting cut, he just flashes white for a brief moment with each hit.

Ooh, now this is getting interesting. Let's see how you handle this!

Erik teleports to the other side of the battlefield. He raises his arms. Suddenly, a wave of spikes made of solid webs begins to form. This wave is as wide as the battlefield, just barely tall enough to jump over, and it's making its way towards the party.