"Ready?" John asked his companion as he stood outside the cave.
"I guess..." Michael answered nervously.
John really couldn't blame Michael for his fear. Nobody likes spiders, much less giant ones, but the bounty for clearing out this cave was well worth it. John took one last look at the web-covered entrance to the cave before igniting his torch and walking in. Michael followed behind. Webbing covered ancient pillars and rubble alike. Tiny spiders scurried away from the fire.
John kept his head on a swivel, scanning the entirety of the cavern before each step. These caves were often home to Arachne, women with the lower half of a spider. They dug holes and when men would step too close, they would spring out and grab the poor victim and drag him underground. Admittedly John didn't know what the monsters did to their victims nor did he really want to find out.
It wasn't long before the light from the outside world was lost. Now all that allowed the two adventurers to see was a single flame amidst the endless dark of the cave. Then John could make out the outline of a spindly leg in the darkness, he drew his sword slowly. Michael did the same. He swung both the sword and the torch. The blade hit it's mark and the enormous spider fell with a squishing noise.
"Was that it?" Michael asked.
"One spider couldn't do all this..." John said as he raised the torch to show the entire ceiling covered in webs.
"Oh...my...G-" Michael tried to say.
John turned where Michael had once been standing only to see his sword clattering on the cave floor.
"Michael?! Oh Fuck! No!!" John took a step before catching himself.
Arachne are known to do this, and where there's one, there's several. He would have to be extremely cautious so he would not suffer the same fate as his companion. John Slowly approached his friend's sword and picked it up. He would leave it at the entrance as a sort of memorial.
John turned back towards the rest of the cave. He would continue on to avenge his friend. John kept walking but to his surprise he only encountered a couple giant spiders, and they were far from the massive ones he knew lived in these mountains. Soon John felt the weight of his adventuring catch up to him, He needed sleep but he couldn't tell what time it was, besides Michael had most of the camping gear.
Then he turned a corner to see a large open area of the cave. There were several pillars that reached the top of the cave. John crouched, observing the area before proceeding. He could see several human-sized cocoons hanging suspended from the ceiling. As he watched he could hear muffled moans coming from one. Unusual, spider dens don't keep their prey alive unless there is a brood mother. That would complicate things. Brood Mothers are demons who are part spider. They catch their prey and leave them alive to feed off them slowly over several months or even years.
John didn't want to get caught by the brood mother but he couldn't leave someone to that fate of being slowly sucked dry by a demoness. He slowly and quietly approached the cocoon. When he touched the webbing he felt the whole thing moved and he could have sworn he heard a lustful moan come from inside. John dug his fingers into the web and pulled it apart to see a young woman. Her eyes were trying to roll into the back of her head, and she let out a weak moan.
John was confused for a moment. But only just a moment as webbing flew at his face. It stuck like glue as John tried desperately to pull it off so he could see. John then felt more webbing hit his feet, pinning him to the ground. It was getting harder to breathe through the spider silk. He collapsed to the ground, choking on the threads. Then he blacked out.
When John awoke the webbing was missing from his face but all of his armor was gone. He his arms and legs were kept spread by the spider's webbing. He pulled against the silk with all of his strength but to no avail. Was he going to be eaten by the spiders or the Brood Mother?
