//------------------------------// // Chapter 63: Center of the Imperial Web of the Under Race of the Aracholsid Aka the 'Cavern Wide Web' // Story: Caverns & Cutie Marks // by TheColtTrio //------------------------------// The moment Light Patch touched the cavern’s floor, he rolled over and kissed the ground, only to immediately regret it. He tried to get the dirt taste out of his mouth and ignored the chittering laughter of the Arachcolsid around him. “I’m never flying again,” he muttered, still hugging the ground. “Discord was wrong, I shoulda never had wings. I was never meant to fly,” he finished as the Arachcolsid leader moved up, not even trying to hide the humor on its face. “We’ve put together a travois to help us move you. So if you’re done hugging the ground?” He trailed off questioningly. Light Patch sighed and gave a quick nod, causing the two other nearby Aracholsid to move in and begin. One carefully removed the bandages dirtied by wounds that had opened during the descent while the other quickly spun new ones using its silk. After the last knot was done, the two carefully lifted the wounded pegasus onto the travois. Barely minutes after they’d reached the cavern floor, they’d set off again. I have to give it to them, they are fairly industrious, Light Patch thought to himself. He looked to his left as the leader strode up next to him. “Rank hath its own privileges, right?” “That it does. Among other things. It also means getting to not be the one having to drag the heavy chicken.” The leader chittered at its own joke and the look of annoyance on Light Patch’s face. “I’m not a chicken, I just play one on tv,” Light Patch replied hotly. “I’m kind of surprised though that you don’t have some type of giant spider with you guys to help move stuff. I’m sure there’s gotta be some kind of giant cave spider you could find in here.” To his astonishment however, the leader shuddered in revulsion. He gave the leader a questioning stare.. “I hate spiders. They freak me out,” he replied, looking at the pegasus again. It sighed at the still questioning look from Light Patch. “Wouldn’t you be freaked out some by a non-thinking parody of oneself?” Light Patch opened his mouth to respond, but stopped to think. “Touché,” Light Patch eventually replied. “So, where are you taking me anyway? Surely we can’t be close to… Uh, to...” It suddenly occurred to Light Patch that he hadn’t ever heard the name of the Arachcolsid’s capital town, or the name for their queen or even the ones helping him at the moment. “The capital city I never learned the name of ruled by the queen whose name escapes me which is the leader of the group who I’ve not been properly introduced to.” He was again treated to more chittering laughter. “The capital city’s name in my species’ language is—as usual for you adventures I’m sure—long and nearly, if not outright, unpronounceable for you. It could be translated as ‘Center of the Imperial Web of the Under Race of the Aracholsid’, but most simply call it ‘Web’ for short. Our queen’s name is equally long and unpronounceable and long-winded, even when translated. So, it is commonly shortened to ‘Silk trap’ “And you may call me Orb. To answer your first question, we are heading to a small outpost the queen ordered set up. Mostly for trade routes, but also as a base for exploration missions, such as ours.” Orb seemed pleased at the success of trade. “Outposts huh? Sounds like you guys are expanding,” Light Patch said. “We are. Your actions caused the queen to rethink some of her decisions, our decisions. We thought that we had to close ourselves off and avoid you surface lot. But maybe you aren’t so bad. Ugly, sure.” Orb ignored the indignation of Light Patch. “But you seem like a fairly good lot. In fact, you’ll see when we get to the outpost that Silk Trap has been reaching out to other races of the caverns and even the deep caverns.” Dear Celestia: today I learned how to build a nation, Light Patch jokingly thought. “Also, Silk Trap has been wondering about you. Any information which can be brought back about you is handsomely rewarded, you know. When Perfect Profit returned, the queen spent awhile talking to her. Several of her questions were about you. That gigantic bluff left a positive impression with her. After all, it’s not everyday that somearach has the audacity to so boldly lie to the queen like that.” “Oh.” Light Patch sheepishly looked away. “She figured that out then, huh?” “She probably suspected from the beginning. Our scouts on the surface and the other traders who have come down provided the rest of the information,” Orb casually replied. “You’re taking the fact that the queen is potentially romantically interested in you fairly well.” “Well, it’s not exactly new news to me. I’d heard a rumor about it after we’d left the caverns. And well, she seems nice enough, and I guess she was kind of cute, in a spidery kind of way.” The travois shook along with Light Patch as the Aracholsid dragging it tripped over his own legs in surprise. The entire group turned to look at the shaken pegasus in surprise. Orb inched a little closer and helped Light Patch right himself on the travois. He the pegasus for a few moments. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” “Mostly. I mean she was a little cute, but I doubt it’d work out between us. There are a few big things that would make it difficult,” he said nervously. After a few moments of silence, Orb laughed. “You are a strange pegasus! Good, but very strange,” Orb eventually managed to say. Light Patch scowled at the the Aracholsid’s chittering laughter. “I know, I know, I have issues. At least I keep things interesting with my crazy, right?” “True enough,” Orb replied. “In any case, since we happen to have you with us, we might as well look to making ourselves a little richer, hm?” Orb asked, prompting Light Patch filled the Aracholsid’s in on what he and his friends had gotten into, while also getting information on what they’d been up to as well. * * * “Then I go and open my big mouth. The voice causes a torrent of water to drench me. But only got some of the surface slime, which left me wet, chafing under my armor, and angry,” Light Patch finished the story as a small walled compound materialized out of the darkness. “Is that the outpost you were talking about?” Orb looked up at the buildings and nodded. “Yep, that's the outpost. An old castle built when Roania attempted to extend its influence to the caverns. They named the area ‘Treacher’s Field’. Never learned why, though,” Orb added thoughtfully. “In any case, I need to report our return. You two see him to the... healers’ area. I’ll be there as soon as I’m done.” Light Patch looked at Orb when he noticed the pause in the Aracholsid’s speech. “Why did you hesitate?” Light Patch asked. “You were going to say something else, weren’t you? Hey, get back here and tell me!” he shouted at the departing Aracholsid leader. He turned to look at the one helping him. “Why did he pause? What isn’t he telling me? Tell me what you know!” the pegasus shouted, not happy about the looks of amusement he could make out on the Aracholsid—and various other creatures he was passing. After a few more tries, he fell silent. He knew he wasn’t going to get an answer. He brooded silently as he was taken through a door into a darker strange smelling room. “What ‘ave you got ‘ere?” a gravelly voice spoke from the other side of the room. The two Aracholsid chittered back in response. “Oh? Injured in an artifact explosion? And a pony to boot.” The gravely voice figure chuckled. Light Patch felt the room shake at its footsteps. “I bet I could make a few improvements,” it said as it lumbered into view. It was a short, stocky bipedal boar-like creature, covered in ramshackle armor etched with strange glyphs, and a large leather apron covered in various stains. Light Patch looked at the creature for a few moments before several various facts clicked together in his head. His eyes bulged out in realization.. “No. Nope. All the no. I’m good. I don’t need healing,” the pegasus said, trying to get away from the unfortunately accurate representation of this universe's version of an Ork Mad Dok. “No operation will be needed, I assure you. I’m fine, perfectly fi-” He stood up and began to walk away before collapsing in a heap. “I won’t lie,” it said, laughing as it grabbed the struggling Light Patch and dropped him on a table in the room. “This is gonna be painful, but it’ll go away quickly... probably. Then you’ll be all better, Ah’ promise.” It sorted through the stuff on other tables and bottles whose contents were too murky to make out. Perhaps mercifully, Light Patch added mentally. It found a pair of grubby gloves and pulled them on. “Now for the anesthesia,” it mumbled, pulling out a large syringe. Light Patch’s eyes widened even further when he saw the implement. The pegasus tried to get off the table, only for some of his gear to prevent his escape. “I’m good! Feeling just fine, really. I can just wait for my own mana to regenerate, or just pay for a health potio-” He turned just in time to see the Dok’s fist launch forward, hitting him and knocking him unconscious. “Works every time.” The dok chuckled, pulling the glove off and looking at the word ‘anesthesia’ stitched into the palm of them. “Best thing I evah traded for. Reduces the amount of ‘ead work by uptah a half,” he said, carefully setting them to the side. He still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was missing something. With a shrug, the nagging feeling was discarded as he got to work. * * * The dull throbbing in his head was the first sign he was still alive. The second was the pounding sound of his heart in his ears. He shifted in the bed, causing more pain and making him quietly groan. “And if I’m any judge of me own work, he should be waking up soonish.” Light Patch felt more than heard the dok walk up. “In fact, look at dat. Dere he is now,” the dok said “How are you doing?” the pegasus heard Orb ask. He opened his eyes and look at the Aracholsid. “My head is pounding. The rest of me is in general agony and…” He paused for a few moments. He moved a hoof over his heart. “I think my heart is bigger too.” “Oh good, I was afraid you wouldn’t notice dat. Now, where was it...” The dok went back to sifting through the cupboard before grabbing a bottle with a greenish purple liquid. “Here, dis should ‘elp with the pain,” he said as he shoved the bottle neck into Light Patch’s mouth, forcing him to drink its contents. The pegasus tried to wipe the taste from his mouth before he realized that the pain had started to fade away. “It worked… Do I want to even know what was in that?” Light Patch asked, turning to look at the boar-like creature. “Just some of the usual, rosemary, plantain, toad liver...” The dok continued to list off a bunch of other stuff. Light Patch tuned him out around the twentieth item. Great. First bit of meat I get to ingest in a while and I didn’t even get to taste it or even get a cut I like. “Was there at least some onion in it?” Light Patch said cheekily. “O’ve course! Anyway, you should be better than new now. In addition to your heart, I also mucked with a few other things in there. An’ best of all, I didn’t lose nothing in there either this time.” The dok sounded proud of himself. “You’ll also be ‘appy to know that you shouldn’t have any new scars from this. I went in through that one on your abdomen I found.” Light Patch lifted the blanket and peaked beneath. Looks like he went in through my appendicitis scar. Didn’t even know I still had that in pony form. Light patch looked up. “Thanks, I guess. If you’ll show me my gear, I think I’ll get dressed.” “Once you’re finished with that, my squad should be done restocking our supplies and we can head out to lead you to an exit near here. It comes out a day’s walk from the entrance to the ruins you were in,” Orb said, poking at a couple of bottles on a table. “I’ll go with you lot,” the dok said, gathering a few things. “Other groups have been encountering zombponies down here and I’ve got a few ideas I could try with some spare bits.” Its tone was dreamy. “You lot go on ahead, I’ll meetcha by the front gate.” “Zombponies? I take it those aren’t a natural occurrence here in the caverns?” Light Patch asked, quickly following Orb out of the dok’s room. “No, they aren’t,” Orb replied. “From what other parties have found, they seem to be more common around an entrance to a swamp area near a town.” “Wait. Let me guess the town’s name: Jakobs Cove? If it took more than one bolt, you weren’t using a Jakobs crossbow~” the pegasus finished in his best Markus impression. Orb stared blankly at the pegasus for a few moments before shaking his head and carrying on. “Actually the town is named Ade, and when I say near, I mean it’s the closest at only a week away.” “That’s where the others were going,” Light Patch muttered quietly before looking around the castle. While he hadn’t been paying an extreme amount of attention as he was brought in, he was sure this wasn’t the way back to the gate. “Where are we heading?” “Armory. I had the smith work on your hammer considering how banged up it was.” Orb ignored the side look from the pegasus at his understatement. “And your armor too,” Orb continued. “Plus, I have to pick up a few other things for the squad from there,” he finished. The Aracholsid pushed the doors to a large room filled with the sound of roaring fires and hammers striking hot metals. Orb made his way over to a couple other Aracholsid and chittered along with them. Light Patch wandered over to check out the smiths in action and moved to watch a minotaur pounding out what he thought might be a sword. After a few more blows, the minotaur looked up and snorted at the pegasus before placing the work in progress back into one of the forges near it. It then turned back to look at light patch before speaking up in a feminine voice. “You the pegasus with the warhammer?” she asked. A little shocked and fairly intimidated, Light Patch simply nodded. She motioned for him to follow her and walked towards an area near the back. “This here is all of your gear,” she said, pulling out his passing it to him. “There wasn’t much I could do with your Linothorax, so I got some of the Aracholsid weavers here to do something. I did have them incorporate some chain mail in the layering. and a couple of thin metal plates, but that was it.” She assisted him in securing it. “Your helmet was a total loss. I ended up forging you a new one. Your leggings were still mostly fine, I just took a few dents out of them,” the minotaur smith finished as he slid them on. “None of the pouches had to be replaced?” Light Patch asked, sliding on all of the various pouches, slings and the two saddle bags. The smith shook her head, then picked up his warhammer. “And finally, here is your hammer. The head was horribly cracked from the artifact, which from the stories I’ve heard, isn’t a huge surprise. I melted the head down to reforge it and took the opportunity to replace the handle with some Iron Root Stem. It’s much sturdier than the wood you were using. I thought it’d be nicer looking too, for coming from a mushroom anyway.” She handed the hammer over to Light Patch and stepped back so he could give it a couple of test swings. “Feels similarly balanced and yeah, the handle is a lot nicer. Thank you,” the pegasus said with a nod of thanks. “Do I owe you anything?” The minotaur shook her head. “The queen has a standing order that royal funds will cover your expenses. Within reason of course,” she added, noticing a glimmer in his eyes. Orb strode over. “I’ve got my gear ready. Unless there is anything else you can think of, we should get moving.” Light Patch nodded and turned to face the female minotaur to speak, but was interrupted when she held a hand up. “If you wanna thank me, little one, put my work to good use and don’t get yourself killed fighting evil. It’s bad for a smith's business if heroes using their gear get killed.” She pulled the sword from earlier out of the forge and resumed hammering on it. Orb led Light Patch to a couple of other places in the castle to get some supplies in order before they met Orb’s group back at the gates. Light Patch was able to pick them out quickly and spotted the dok along with them. He noticed the large skull the dok held. The moment Light Patch got close, the Hog doctor walked up and dropped the skull onto Light Patch’s head. “Sorry, I almost forgot ta give ya this. You were such a good and brave little patient, ya didn’t even whine about me mucking about with your inner bits and replacing yur heart with one from a Slime Lord. So there's your trophy from Dok Healing Cut.” He turned to converse with one of the other Aracholsid in the group. Light Patch leaned towards Orb and quietly asked a question. “Do I wanna know what a slime lord is and if it actually has a heart or not?” Orb looked at the pegasus for a moment before flatly answering. “No.” Light Patch sighed and clapped his hoofs a couple of times while muttering ‘clap if you believe’ as he walked past the group to the gate. “Let's get this train wreck going before I start asking questions I’ll regret.” The gathered party glanced at each other in confusion. “What’s a train?” Orb asked. Light Patch face hoofed.