The Winter kingdom

Version 2.0

Leaving the concerned villagers behind, the group follows the peculiar trail of footprints that lead away from Sara and Ronnel's home. The snow-covered ground makes tracking relatively easy especially as it had not snowed recently, as they trace the tiny, erratic marks to the outskirts of the village.

As they venture further, the landscape goes silent, no birds, no critters, no animals seen or heard. It was interrupted only by the occasional whistle of the biting wind which leads them to a small clearing.

At the clearing heart stands a heart tree. Its bark, instead of the usual robust texture, seems to be oozing a sickly substance that stains the pristine snow beneath. The normally vibrant and patient features of the tree now appear twisted and corrupted. Even its leaves twist with the tips dried and crawling inwards like a homeless child on a blanket-less bed.

As the group gets closer to the corrupted heart tree, they notice the surroundings becoming more unsettling. The ground near the tree is scattered with remnants of materials—discarded bones, faded symbols drawn in the snow, and peculiar objects arranged in peculiar patterns.

As they approach the heart tree, the sickly substance oozing from its bark becomes more vivid, painting the snow around it. The tree's twisted features writhe unnaturally in pain.

To their horror, they discover two humans, bound to the heart tree. Their eyes are wide as their mouths bite and chew at their gags. The bonds that tie them are caked in the sickly material leaking from the tree. Like a flowing snake, it runs down the bonds and onto the unfortunate subjects.

As the group moves to untie Sara and Ronnel, an unsettling sound fills the air. Faint rustlings and hushed whispers of skittering movement flutter from the tree above and around. Their snowy breath vibrates and starts to thicken.

In the spaces between the ancient branches above, there are inexplicable scratching sounds. Hushed conversations carried by unseen entities echo through the chilled air. Like ice scratching, it chitters above them before echoing around the clearing bouncing from tree to tree.

From the twisted heart tree, emerges a monster—organic yet touched by icy. Its body is a shimmering blend of crystalline ice features and the familiar form of a spider. The creature moves with a mesmerizing grace.

As the creature descends from the corrupted heart tree, the forest stops all sound. The creature's face, framed by icy filigree, reveals a horrifying beauty. Delicate pincers, adorned with frost-kissed patterns, start snapping and ringing out. Eyes blinking indeterminately as it focuses in on the party.

Each leg terminates in two distinctive claw-like pincers. The frost-laden appendages move with an eerie synchronicity, that echoes the skittering heard earlier. The creature's thorax is adorned with a captivating pattern akin to ancient runes. As it lands gracefully on the ground, the creature's size becomes more apparent. Comparable to a large dog, it moves with elegance.

As if responding to a silent command, more of these enchanted creatures emerge from the twisted branches above. Each landing on the snowy ground with a quiet and calculated precision, through all of the different sizes. It seems the natural part of the spider lives as they all appear to be in different stages of adolescence.

The air starts to fill with the ice scraping against ice as the Chitters pick up whilst snapping between them gets louder and closer.

As the ice spiders make their move, the group springs into action, weapons drawn. Brandon jumps first into the fray, his blade slicing through the air. Jon, matching the spiders' menace with his sword, strikes with swift and deliberate slashes, the gleam of bronze contrasting with the arachnids' crystalline bodies.

Edric, showing no hesitation, each swing moved to sever the unnatural limbs of the ice spiders. The sound of spider limbs falling off echoes like the sharp crack of breaking ice. Jocelyn, maintaining her distance, draws her bow with steady hands. Her arrows, expertly aimed, pierce through the air, finding weak points in the spiders' icy armour.

Lyanna, with her daggers in hand, manoeuvres gracefully, attacking with a lethal finesse that leaves no room for the spiders to retaliate. The daggers find their mark, striking between the living and ice-infused segments of the spiders, unleashing bursts of blue blood as the blades pierce the unnatural creatures.

The battlefield becomes a chaotic battle, a clash of weapons and elemental forces, scratches of spiders, and the commands of the party. The clearing is filled with the sounds of battle—clangs of swords meeting icy exoskeletons, thuds of arrows embedding in crystalline bodies, and the burst of blue ichor as the spiders are dismantled one by one.

Edric and Lyanna move in tandem. Edric parries an incoming spider with his sword, creating an opening for Lyanna to strike. Her daggers move with a swift elegance, finding the vulnerable points in the spider's ice-laden anatomy.

Jocelyn is forced to face a spider head-on. Drawing from the combat training she received during their journey, she swiftly sidesteps a lunge, evading the arachnid's attack. Jocelyn retaliates, aiming an arrow true and piercing through the creature's crystalline shell.

However, she finds herself cornered as another spider approaches from the side. At this moment, Brandon and Jon rush to her aid. Brandon, his sword gleaming in the frigid air, stops the spider's advance, providing Jon with a decisive blow to the spider.

As the final echoes of battle resound through the forest, the remaining spiders retreat with a skittering grace. Their icy forms blend seamlessly with the snow-covered landscape, providing them with a tactical advantage as they vanish into the intricate maze of the forest.

The smaller spiders scamper up trees, their slender bodies disappearing into the foliage above. They nimbly move among the branches, leaving only the scratching of wood and their skittering noise. The larger spiders, navigate through the forest with a predatory finesse, gracefully vanishing into the depths.

The air gradually returns to a stillness broken only by the soft rustling of leaves and heaving breathing.

"Fuck spiders," Jon announces.

"I thought they were cool," Jocelyn announces as everyone turns to look at her with raised eyebrows.

"Magic is cool Jocelyn; giant ice-covered spiders are not," Brandon says as he shakes his head.

"Mmmmmmm." They turn back to Sara and Ronnel shivering from the cold.

"Right, sorry," Brandon says sheepishly going over to untie them.