The Adventures of Arachne Baenre

Jedzed said:

I love Aldrea’s armour costume.
Where do you buy this mini dolls and their clothing?

Click to expand...

Aldrea is a kit, KY-002B. I bought her from Ekia Hobbies. All of the minis and accessories I've bought came from either Ekia or Giantoy. Glissa and Veyronna's outfits are custom made by myself.

“Oh wow!” marvelled Glissa. “And you think you can convince the drow to give up her evil schemes? Maybe return to her realm? Or something?”





Veyronna shook her head. “No no. Nothing like that. See, before travelling here I did some research and it appears that the drow are naturally resistant to magic. There is a chance I would be able to overcome this resistance, but there is also a chance that I would not. Instead, I plan to use this on her greatest ally, her human servant. All I wish to do is turn her against him. Without his assistance I believe we can significantly stunt her ability to be productive and advance her goals.”





“Impressive! And what kind of thing will you get him to do?” asked Evey.





Veyronna shrugged. “I do not know yet. The best way to use the wand is to take advantage of the situation. I would need to suggest something that could be done immediately without hesitation. This way the impulse could be something the human would never do, but the spell would overpower his mind and he would act before he had a chance to realize what he was doing. I will have to watch them interact and pick my moment carefully,” she explained.





“If you did your research I’m sure you’re aware of the violent nature of the drow. Should you cause him to fail her enough then she may outright kill him,” pointed out Aneka.

“I am aware,” nodded Veyronna.





“Hmph. A necessary sacrifice!” commented Aldrea. “He is a willing servant! The work he does to forward her causes makes him as bad as her! One human to save this realm from her influence is a price we should not hesitate to pay! We must win at any cost!”





Veyronna shot another look at Aldrea.





“Why don’t you come and get settled?” suggested Evey. “You must be tired from your journey. You can start your work in the morning.”

“Happy birthday, Arachne!”

“What is the meaning of this, wanre?” asked Arachne, a little confused.





“Okay, I know it’s not your birthday birthday. A human birthday is the day they are born; or delivered into this world. Today is the day you were delivered to me! Whatever act of fate brought you here, it’s an important date to me. Since you don’t know how time flows here compared to where you came from, maybe it can be important to you too?”

Meanwhile, someone was eavesdropping in on our conversation.





“Drow do not concern themselves with such things. What is important is the day you die, and making sure that it is not today,” she pointed out.

“Okay… Well, I bought you some presents. Come on, just play along. It’ll be fun! Cake, presents, what’s not to like?”





“Okay, fine. This cake does smell good. What is the point of the tiny candle?”

“Here, let me light it.”





“It’s your first birthday, so there’s one candle to represent the one year,” I explained. It felt weird to explain the concept of a birthday to someone.

With attention on the table and an open flame, Veyronna moved closer, drawing the purple wand from her belt.





“Okay, now what? We wait for it to burn?”

“No no, now you blow it out! While you do it, make a wish!”

Arachne paused and looked at me. It was no secret that she didn’t believe that humans had any magic and she did not see how making a wish and blowing out a candle could make it come true. I didn’t know if she was making the wish, but she chose to humor me and leaned down to blow out the candle.





Seeing an opportunity to humiliate the drow and possibly catch her hair on fire, Veyronna stood and whispered an incantation while leveling the wand at my head.





Without hesitation my hand came up and cupped the back of Arachne’s petite cranium.





I thrust her head downwards towards the cake, smashing her face into the icing.





Somehow, the force was enough to slide her along the table, sending gifts flying and plates crashing to the floor.





It was about this point that my senses kicked back in and I realized what had happened. What I’d done. “Oh no… Arachne! I don’t know why I did that! That wasn’t me! I-!” I babbled, already backing away from her, the scene of my crime.





OOC: Part 2 requires a little more editing to complete. I'm going to try and get it up tomorrow but it might take a few days.

Arachne slowly lifted her head from the cake in a sticky mess and looked at me. Her silence was stunning, her shock overwriting her rage.





She reached up and wiped the icing away from her eyes, still seemingly calm.





Her obedient pet Rhyl floated up from behind her as she started to get up. Then she finally spoke. “Rhyl, inbau ukta.”





I didn’t have to speak drow to know what was coming next Rhyl floated up to the ceiling and came at me, blasting me with one of his eye beams.

“Wait! Please!” I begged as the small aberration’s spell turned my legs to jelly and I collapsed to the floor.





While Rhyl subdued me, Arachne slid her hand up her thigh to reveal the blade beneath. She pulled it from its sheath.





Now her rage was able to overcome the shock. “Dos hawrest jaluk! Lu'oh kuuv dos mordivvin uns'aa saph nindol! Usstan xun naut zhaun vel'bol nibele dos ph'jivvust a jhal ol zhah uss nindel dos orn noa!” As she spoke she got up and launched herself at me, leading with the blade in her hand.

“AAAAAAAH! Arachne, please -ow- listen!” I begged as I tried to defend myself.





By now Veyronna had already made her exit, her work here done. With all of the commotion upstairs the rest of the Clan was already coming out to investigate.

“Veyronna? What is going on up there?” asked Saffee.





“I used the purple wand. I could not bear to watch,” she explained.





“Wow! What did you make him do?” asked Glissa in awe of the will worker’s result.





“Apparently today is the anniversary of the drow’s arrival into this realm and the human was trying to celebrate. I implanted the suggestion for him to humiliate her by shoving her face into the cake. I also added a little something extra. I granted him strength, perhaps enough to fight back and win, but it doesn’t sound like I gave him enough… I believe it would be best for us to discover the aftermath of this fight later instead of getting involved. They might find unity and both turn against us. With the human’s buffed strength and an already angry drow I do not believe the odds would be in our favor,” she explained.





“That seems sensible,” agreed Evey. “Let us return to the depths of the basement in case they bring the fight this way.” In agreement the clan returned to the storage room and closed the door.





They remained ready in case they needed to act but it wasn’t long before the fight ended and the house fell silent. Aneka would later venture out and investigate the outcome...





End

After a nice warm shower to get the blood and icing cleaned off of myself I went to get Bastet. She wasn’t hard to find, contained to the jar like she was. “Now is your chance to redeem yourself,” I told the cat. “In the kitchen you will find a large mess. Clean it up. Now is your second chance. Serve well and you will be rewarded. Fail me again and you will be the next mess needing to be cleaned up.”





Bastet nodded in understanding and quickly ran off to do my bidding, pausing in the doorway to get a kink out of her back. I could tell how happy she was to be free and she seemed motivated to not end up in the jar again. Even more motivation was waiting for her in the kitchen. She would have her work cut out for her…





The next morning I made my way downstairs to see how well Bastet was doing in her task. Initially I was mad to find the cat face down on the floor, passed out with a brush in her hands, but how could I be mad at what she’d accomplished? The floor was clean! Not a drop of blood to be seen.





“Impressive,” I admitted, my voice waking Bastet up. “You even disposed of the body! Very well done, wanre. Apparently I was right to give you a second chance.” I grabbed myself some food and went about my day.





Bastet watched me go without a word, seemingly a little surprised, possibly confused. Definitely relieved. She was definitely motivated now!

Several days had passed and the Clan was discussing what they knew.

“No one has seen him? Not at all?” Confirmed Evey.





Everyone shook their heads.

“So, Aneka was the last to see him?”





“It appears that way. After the fight ended I saw him slumped on the floor in the kitchen, blood everywhere, and the drow's footprints headed up stairs. It sounded like she was in the shower at that time. I reported back, and we decided it was best to lay low for awhile,” confirmed Aneka.





“We heard some noises later, and then when we emerged for some more scouting we saw the cat working on cleaning up the mess,” recalled Veyronna.





“Then it must have been her who got rid of the body if the drow has her doing her dirty work now,” deduced Aldrea.





Glissa shook her head. “Not a chance. I have fought her. She is a skilled fighter, but she is not that strong.”





“Based on our observations, the drow would not have gone to the effort of cleaning herself up only to drag around a bloody body. She would have done that first, then gone to clean up. I believe she never intended to move him herself, she always intended to get Bastet to do it,” concluded Saffee.





“What about her pet? How much is known about his abilities? Perhaps he was able to do something? Levitate him, disintegrate him, perhaps?” asked Evey.





The elves considered this, but not a lot of information was known to them. They’d seen rays that made them more clumsy and chilling frost rays, but that was about it. His teeth looked nasty too, but he never got close enough to use them, far more content to float up out of reach and blast away at his foes below. Because it was hard for most of the clan to fight back without a ranged weapon, they largely tried to avoid the tiny aberration.





“To be fair, the whole goal was to reduce the drow’s allies,” pointed out Aneka. “Whatever his fate, the human hasn’t been seen in the house for days. He’s gone. What we need to do now is capitalize on this and see what else we can accomplish. He was her biggest ally, both figuratively and literally. Her pet might be powerful but he’s not intelligent. The cat is our size. We could take her on. The drow, well, we know how that goes.” She glanced at Aldrea.





“Don’t forget her spiders,” reminded Saffee. This comment brought about some chuckles from the others. Saffee just shook her head and let herself be the butt of that joke.





((End Part 2/3))

“Okay, then it seems pretty clear; we need to press our advantage as hard as we can but we can't get cocky. We need to continue to protect our territory. I don't want anyone to be alone whether you're in one of our safe places or out in the house. We'll continue to avoid the aberration, but if anyone comes up with a way to defeat or capture it safely, we all need to hear it. Let's see… Oh, any schedules that we've learned to be dependable are null and void. Without her human slave Arachne will be forced to do a lot of things herself because the cat won't be able to.”





“Although, if she may be capable of moving a human body, who's to say what she may be capable of? We've really only had one run in with her so far and since then she's been confined to that jar. We'll need to be smart about it, but it may be in our best interest to push for another encounter with her. With all of us together I don't doubt that we can take her. I really think we're on to something by taking out her allies. Veyronna? You did very well with your spell. We're glad you came to help."

Veyronna nodded, but hung her head a little. She knew she did what needed to be done, but she still felt kind of bad about it.





“Does anyone else have any ideas to share or other things that need to be discussed?” Asked Every.





“Yeah,” started Glissa, “does anyone else feel like they're being watched here? Every time we're in this room I feel like I'm being watched, but I never see anything. I don't know… it's just kind of creepy.”





“It's all in your head, Glissa. If there were something here I assure you I would have spotted it. Maybe don't lay under the face next time?” Aneka teased.





Evey chuckled. “Okay, if there's nothing else, let's get back to work.”





OOC: End. Thanks for reading!

“Ah, there you are!” greeted Arachne as Bastet came into the bedroom. “As you can see, I’ve been trying on stuff from that box that arrived and there’s a little mess for you to clean up. Collect all of the garbage, then take all of this clothing and launder it. It stinks of the humans who made it. At least their sizing seems accurate. Hold on, you can take this stuff too.”





Bastet mewed in understanding. She knew better than to speak her native tongue in front of Arachne, it only made her angry.

“But, if you’re here, that must mean you’ve finished the dishes?” Arachne continued as she disrobed.

Bastet nodded and mewed.





Arachne pushed the skirt off of her hips and let them fall to her ankles then held out the top.





“Here,” she said, tossing the garment to Bastet.





“Make sure you read the labels. Human-made garments can be made of materials that are ruined by their own washing processes. Do not mess them up!” she warned before stepping out of the skirt and flicking it at Bastet off her other ankle.





“Get that in the laundry,” repeated Arachne.





“Then you can bring me supper.”





“After that you can take out the garbage.”





“Then, vacuum this floor. It’s disgusting! I shouldn’t have to tell you to do this sort of thing,” Arachne pointed out.





Bastet went off and obediently carried out her master’s tasks. Eventually, she was able to curl up on her pillow beside Arachne’s bed where she fell asleep nearly instantly, utterly exhausted.

Poor Bastet - I like the picture of her pushing the hoover though. Commenting is like a minefield of English vs American words. The rubbish bag and hoover are particularly good.... that's trash bag and vacuum cleaner...

Willendorph said:

Poor Bastet - I like the picture of her pushing the hoover though. Commenting is like a minefield of English vs American words. The rubbish bag and hoover are particularly good.... that's trash bag and vacuum cleaner...

Click to expand...

Hah! Don't worry, I've watched enough British content over the years to understand most differences!

You know, I was just thinking that Bastet needs a little maid outfit, or at least an apron.

“A lot of things have changed around here since the death of the human,” pointed out Every to the assembled Clan. “But one thing that has remained the same is laundry day. The difference is that now it's Bastet’s job.”





“Our mission today is to disrupt this chore,” continued Saffee. “Once she has put the laundry in she'll leave and that's where we come in. We'll need to act quickly so she doesn't notice the time difference on the cycle, just a minute or two, but we'll do something to get her in trouble with the drow.





“I'll watch for her. Once she's left the laundry unattended I'll swoop in and pause it then we can have our way with it!” laughed Aneka.

Aneka made her way out of Sanctuary and took up a position with a good view of the washing machine.





She waited and watched as Bastet drug the laundry into the room and loaded the washer. As soon as she was gone Aneka fired an arrow to stop the washer.





The Clan gathered around the washer as it was opened and a garment was pulled out. Saffee stepped forward and pulled one of Aneka's daggers from its sheath. “I know just what to do…”





A quick moment later the garment was back in the wash and it was running again.

The clan went back to their hiding place amid some giggling.


***


“Bastet? Can you come here?” called Arachne. “I need you to explain something to me.

Bastet attended her master, finding Arachne peering out the window. She gave a questioning meow to tell the drow she was here.





Arachne spun around to face Bastet, gesturing to her stomach. “Can you explain to me why there are holes in my shirt? ‘TNC’? TRUE NORTH CLAN! Those little elves are mocking me!”





Bastet looked on, not really sure how to respond without angering the drow further.

“If you cannot hunt them down and be rid of them then you need to take more care in protecting what is mine and our interests! This is unacceptable, Bastet! Unacceptable! Do you understand?” questioned Arachne.

Bastet nodded.

Arachne glared at her for a moment longer. “Be gone. Get back to work.”

Great presentation!

The clan was lined up in the hallway outside the drow’s room. They’d needed to make a stop in the bathroom before going on the offensive.

“Everyone remembers their role?” Confirmed Saffee in a whisper, looking down the row of elves at the ready. Each one gave a nod confirming. “Good. Let's move!”





She pushed the door open far enough to let them pass and the Clan charged in with Veyronna in the lead. Glissa followed behind doing the heavy lifting while wearing their new companion, Sassy.





Everyone headed for the bed, jumping and climbing up the frame and mattress. With a mighty heave Glissa tossed her cargo up onto the mattress before following after it. As soon as she had a visual on the drow Veyronna thrust her staff to the sky and began chanting a spell on the resting elf.







Glissa continued on towards the drow's head, a cord trailing behind her.





Andrea and Evey angled off towards the second pillow on the bed where Bastet slept. Meanwhile Aneka, Saffee and Goldie went back to back on the center of the bed to watch for the spiders they expected to attack them, weapons at the ready.







With a click and a buzz the mission came to life. The noise startled Bastet out of slumber and gave the cat a moment to jump to her feet before the Clan descended on her.

Glissa worked as quickly as she could while the others served as protection and distraction.





Saffee, Aneka and Goldie circled around Veyronna as the entire mission's success revolved around her spells' continued success. If the spell broke and the drow woke there would be hell to pay for all of them.