I made it to the cave opening without running into any further trouble. That gave me hope. Maybe the spiders were busy doing something else, distracted so they wouldn’t even notice me nearby. Then I could slip in without being seen at all.

Of course, that thought was immediately followed by a pang of guilt, because if the spiders were distracted it was likely because they were eating. If they were eating the people they’d carried inside, then I was too late to help anyone.

This whole thing was crazy. If this were a movie, I’d be screaming at the screen, telling the guy do not go into the dark cave with the spiders! That’s how you die in the horror movies. Yet there I was, on the edge of the cave, peering inside.

It was a dark tube about seven or eight feet high, a little taller than it was wide. The walls looked smooth, but when I laid a palm against one it was rough to the touch, like sandpaper. If I scraped myself on it too hard it would strip the skin right off me. Worth being extra careful.

There was no sign of the spiders, not even fragments of webbing. They must be deeper. Swallowing my fears, I took my first step into the dark. When nothing jumped out at me, I went a little deeper into the gloomy interior.

As my eyes adjusted to the near-darkness, I proceeded further into the cave. It continued straight, no bends or other tunnels branching away. That was both good and bad. It meant there was no way the spiders could sneak up behind me. But it also meant I had nowhere to hide if they came down the tunnel toward me, either.

Just as the cave was growing so dark that I thought I’d need to turn back for sure, just because I couldn’t see well enough to go on, I saw a hint of light from somewhere ahead. Sure enough, the cave grew brighter as I proceeded. There had to be another entrance to the place, some way for sunlight to get in, at least. A wisp of cool breeze floated by as well.

So much for the spiders not being able to sneak up on me. I hadn’t thought about there being more than one exit!

I kept moving one foot after the other. The tube widened, then opened up into a large, gloomy cavern. I saw movement and ducked behind a stalagmite to hide. Then I peeked around the edge to survey the scene.

The place was large, maybe twenty meters across or so. It looked roughly round — the part of it I could see was, anyway. But the far wall from where I stood was masked with an enormous pile of webs. I couldn’t tell how deep the webs went, or what if anything was behind them.

Numerous stalactites and stalagmites broke up the otherwise open space. A bright patch of light shone down from somewhere near the ceiling. I couldn’t quite see the spot from this angle, but I thought it was likely another exit passage, maybe one that was closer to the outdoors.

Five large spiders scuttled about inside. When I focused my attention on them, the same sort of information overload hit me again. I guess it was good I was facing only ‘basic’ monsters? These were bad enough!

Small Cave Spiders

Basic rank monster

Powers: Venom, Web 

All of them were working on not two, but three cocoons. They wove strands of web, attached them to the cocoons, and then used the lines to hoist their victims into the web. Two of them were already up. The third was in the process of being lifted as I watched.

I eyed the process carefully. Those definitely looked like human bodies, but I couldn’t be certain. Nor was I at all sure they were still alive, even if they were people. I’d seen what the spider venom did to my wallet. What would it do to living flesh? It was nasty stuff. I’d just about convinced myself to give up and get out of there.

Then I noticed one of the cocoons move.

It was just a small twitch, but enough to tell me that whoever was inside was still alive. I wasn't sure how much longer they would last, and I was pretty much the only hope they had.

Facing five large spiders seemed impossible. I had barely managed to defeat two at once. Three would be challenging, and five sounded like a death wish. I thought retreating down the passage to find help would be a better idea. As I took a step back, I bumped into something that clattered against the cave wall.

All the spiders froze in place, and I did the same. We all remained still for what felt like an eternity, a tableau out of a nightmare. Eventually, the spiders seemed to feel that it was safe, so they went back to their business. I let out a breath I had been holding for too long and glanced behind me to see what had almost killed me. It was a human skeleton that had been there for a very long time, judging by the wisps of old web still attached to it.

The clothing on the skeleton was like something out of a fantasy novel. The leather shirt, pants, and boots were all chewed up by rats or some other creature over the years. However, the short sword belted at the skeleton's waist was in better condition. I reached down and touched the hilt cautiously. I tried to pull it out of the scabbard, but it was stuck.

I pulled harder, and it came loose an inch, then stopped again. The blade was rusty, and some WD-40 would have been helpful at that moment. I tugged harder, trying to work the blade free from its sheath as silently as possible. The blade was so rusted that the corrosion had merged with the leather and wood of the scabbard. With some elbow grease, I managed to break the corrosion away from the steel, and the blade came free with a classic ‘shing’ sound.

I held the sword in front of me. It was a mess, to be honest. Rust pitted and marred its surface, making it probably as sharp as the average butter knife. I ran my finger along the edge, but there was nothing. It was not sharp at all. I had hoped that the sword would even the odds, but it was a useless piece of junk. There was no way I was going to fight a bunch of big-ass spiders with this thing.

Suddenly, hissing behind me startled me from my thoughts. I whirled around and found myself face to face with one of the spiders. It sat on the stalagmite I had used as cover, waving its foot-long forelegs at me. I yelped in alarm, half fell backward, and wildly swung the short sword in front of me. It connected with the spider, smashing into its carapace. The spider hissed in reaction, twisting away from the blow. It fell from the rock, clattering to the cave floor, where it rolled on its back and waved all eight legs wildly and convulsively in the air. It was dying, and I had killed it!

I heaved myself back upright and then stabbed the tip of my sword into the spider. It shuddered and went still. The rush I felt after it died was starting to become a familiar sensation. It was almost like my skin crawled, then warmth flowed through my veins until it settled somewhere just south of my stomach.

No idea what that was about, but at least the rusty sword was better than I’d thought. The edge might be more of a club than a blade, but the point was still workable. And even a dull blade seemed to do serious damage to these critters.

Then I spotted the other four spiders. Stabbing the spider had brought me too much into the open, and all four of them rushed in to attack. I braced myself as they came at me!