Chapter 20
Alric was getting rather annoyed with being woken up. He was not a morning Troll and being repeatedly struck while being barely detectable through his thick skin and size, was still rather rude. It might not hurt but the sound and feeling of something striking against him frequently was like an alarm that you weren't allowed to swat.
'Clink…clink'
"…chitter, Screech!"
Alric started paying more attention as he started processing what he was hearing. There were lots of shuffling sounds and what sounded like things being dragged. That was all rather normal morning sounds, the chittering and soft screeches were not. Another sharp report rang as something smacked into Alric's chest.
Alric opened his eyes and wished he hadn't. Alric had grown rather confident he had nothing to fear of most monsters and having experienced that fact very directly and repeatedly hadn't felt fear in a while. That said a deep instinctive reaction to the sight in front of his face was to scream. As Alric opened his eyes, he came face to face with a massive spider nearly half his size. It was lightly perched atop him and was repeatedly biting at his chest with massive fangs. He was close enough to see the venom glisten as the fangs slammed ineffectually down. He could even see a confused glint of frustration in the many…many eyes.
Luckily Alric's triggered instinct had more to offer than scream. Before the spider could finish looking up to the bellowing Troll a hastily flung palm smacked it in the face like a fantasy version of Truck-Kun. The back portion of the spider was thrown off the Troll, the front had already been same day delivered to whatever dimension spider goo heaven was in.
Still running on a massive surge of adrenaline Alric tried to spring to his feet and look around. He managed to do a rather impressive flop like a fish out of water. He crashed back down and hurtled his head into a large rock. The boulder shattered with a loud cracking noise. Looking down with slightly blurry eyes Alric saw his predicament. Starting at the Trolls feet he was cocooned in a thick layer of stretchy web, the bonds had already torn slightly with his movements but remained stubbornly attached. Renewed sounds of spider activity had Alric checking his surrounds from the floor.
The camp was infested with massive spiders. The closest were already rushing towards him, dropping white blobs behind them as they refocused on him. Ignoring the slight throbbing in his head Alric began ripping at his bonds. His strength was more than up to the task. That said he was struggling; the material was extremely stretchy and sticky. After ultimately ripping a handful free it just stuck to his hands. Out of time, Alric swatted the first wave of incoming spiders into shattered corpses. Some backed off, staying out of his range and trying to look threatening. No longer panicked, Alric knew he was safe from the spiders. Even if he lay here and did nothing they couldn't hurt him proven by how he had done just that as it so happened.
Alric may be safe, but his sleeping friends would have far less protection. Alric could see a handful of discarded blobs of white. They looked like badly sewn body pillows. Alric couldn't tell how many there were, but he hoped the cocoons held all of the party safe and sound. The next thing Alric needed to figure out was how to get rid of this adhesive mess all over his legs and now hands.
The swarm of spiders now confident in their growing numbers rushed forward and engulfed him. His entire body was covered in a moving sea of chitinous limbs and snapping fangs. Alric crushed several with swipes of his arms, but there were always more to crowd in. Alric could feel their bites click off the scales all over his body. As the eight-legged menaces continued their dogpile Alric continued to think of a quick way to get out of the webs.
His efforts to remove them by hand were even slower under a heap of hateful arachnid. Alric had a new idea. Testing it out, Alric willed himself to excrete a residue of thin slick mucous. The once stubborn spider silk was soon sliding off his newly slippery body. Either the spiders had noticed or were merely trying a new strategy after realizing they couldn't poison him they tried adding more webbing to the Troll.
Luckily the sheen of mucous was even more effective at keeping the new webs off as the spiders couldn't get even an end to stick long enough to begin wrapping. Soon, free of the last bit of slim clogged webs Alric was still covered in a small hill of very angry spiders. A soft whisper of bone on stony flesh was lost in the chittering. Alric began stomping, swinging and smashing all around him. He even ended up squeezing two spiders to death against his chest as he went to town. The spiders may have been large, but their defenses weren't anything special.
The spiders were crushed and sliced apart. Soon the numbers dropped low enough for Alric to see the remaining spiders were mostly retreating out of range and dodging his strikes. While the spider's reactions were extremely fast Alric was anything but slow. After continued strengthening and improvement Alric was far faster than any other Troll or anything of his size naturally should move. One spider lost a few legs dodging too slowly, another its head. The spiders couldn't dodge Alric perfectly, or for very long.
Alric felt another soft impact as a spider clung tightly to his back. Twisting around violently did nothing to dislodge the spider. Copying a bear Alric prepared to use a thick tree just off the road as a means to crush the spider. Unfortunately, the spiders many eyes and speed allowed it to lightly transfer from his back onto the trunk of the tree before being squashed. It soon darted up into the canopy.
As Alric looked back down, he could see the remaining spiders had also fled. Feeling pleased Alric began snacking on a few spider legs as he went to rescue his friends. As he held the slightly wiggling Dwarf burrito he pondered how to free the small pile of his friends. The mucus could counter the adhesive properties, but he couldn't get it on the inside like he did for himself. If he just ripped at it he might hurt the occupant. Alric tried something new. He brought a single claw out but was careful not to leak any venom from it. Instead, he carefully excreted and wiped some slime onto it. His tool prepared, he began carefully cutting open his mystery pack.
"Oh… I got a shiny Bifur!"
The rest of the dwarves went faster and faster as the freed helped cut the rest loose with daggers. Nearing the end Alric had a sickening feeling in his guts. He counted the freed dwarves and one hobbit. He counted the remaining wriggling sacks. He counted them a second time as the dread deepened. The count was short by two dwarves.
Stopping helping as the growing number of free continued carefully unsheathing the rest Alric checked the area. No sign of any missed dwarves. As the last cocoon released a enduring Thorin it became clear that Kili and Fili were missing. The dwarves swayed and groaned slightly as they patched bites.
Did the spiders already eat them? Why them and not the rest. No, they webbed everyone. They hadn't begun moving anyone either. Did the spiders that ran away grab them as they left?
Alric could think of no other option. The spiders must have grabbed the nearest prey and fled with them. Alric hadn't paid enough attention, distracted with the one on his back to notice them grabbing the two.
"Thorin! Kili and Fili. We have to go after them."
A quick look around told the still recovering Thorin everything he needed to know, they weren't here. A brief flash of panic made a rare journey across his expression followed with a grim rage. The Dwarf asked the only needed question.
"Can you find them?"
Alric nodded as he began to take big lungful's of air. He could smell the dwarves and many dead spiders…and there, a path leading away into the forest away from the road. The trail the spiders had fled led deeper into the woods. Alric could even faintly smell the dwarves as he began tracking the scent of the fleeing spiders.
The dwarves lagged as Alric charged after the missing members. He knew time was crucial. The longer the spiders had them the lower the chances of finding them alive. The spiders would likely inject even more venom into them or even begin feeding once they reach the nest. Alric felt a stab of guilt for not being more observant. If he had been more thorough in killing the fleeing spiders or counted sooner, he could have saved them sooner.
As he was chiding himself, he continued sprinting after the spiders.
There! Up ahead. Take that. Who said us Trolls were slow!
Alric could see a handful of spiders scrambling away from him at top speed. Alric put everything he could into catching up. He could see the two bound dwarves held before the two largest remaining spiders. They were alive. Or at least they hadn't been eaten yet. Alric was slowly closing the distance. He would need to make sure the spiders didn't slip away with their 'prey' this time.
As Alric drew within twenty yards or so the two spiders hurled the two sacks off to the side. They fell like discarded sacks of potatoes. The spiders didn't slow as they continued their escape. The clever spiders had figured their only chance was distraction. Their gamble paid off as Alric came to a abrupt halt. He glared daggers at the backs of the spiders as they vanished deeper into the woods.
He would love to go end them for good but knew his priority needed to be the two wiggling…no one wiggling and one worrisomely still dwarf. A rushed unzipping with his claw had Kili rolled out. Shrinking to his max to handle the two he tried to assess the damage. He was unconscious but still alive. The bite was deep and leaking a trickle of black and red blood. Alric was concerned with how pale the dwarf looked. He was far from able to give even basic medical aid even shrunken down. He gave a brief glance at Fili, he was also pale and seemed dazed as he was freed.
Clearly the brothers had been poisoned far more heavily than the others. Kili was worse than his already recovering brother. Fili was groggily crawling to his brother. Alric knew he would be of little help in his current state. The best chance for Kili would be the approaching dwarves.
"Where are they? They should have caught up by now."
Deciding action was better than waiting passively, Alric grew back to his full twenty feet of stature. He scooped the brothers up one in each large palm.
He retraced his steps back through the forest. It wasn't long before he spotted the dwarves through the trees. They were just standing there. Alric thought it was strange but didn't pause. Alric had little knowledge of how serious Kili's condition was. He could be on deaths door or merely sleeping off the slightly heavier dose. In either case he decided to rush to the knowledgeable members of the party like Balin.
As such he only realized that the dwarves weren't alone when he had come far too close. He slowed as he saw tall lithe figures encircling the Dwarves.
Alric set aside the brothers as softly as he could. He didn't want to worsen their condition or alert the elves of his presence. Strangely, despite his rather thunderous approach, not a single elf had looked in his direction. As if to spite the very idea that Alric was that lucky a female elf with chestnut hair seemed to glance right at him. Alric froze. Had he seen it wrong? Did she just smirk at me?
A slight rustle of leaves above him was the only warning Alric had before he felt two sharp daggers slam into either side of his neck. The sharp elven blades broke a couple scales and left a shallow cut but did little else. As Alric spun to find who had dropped down to ambush him he saw a smug elven face flash past his head as the assailant climbed his back and leapt from his shoulder back into the nearby tree he had just attacked him from. Alric knew that face, it was handsome and had a barely there smile. Legolas, Prince of Wood Elves, Future member of the Fellowship and the OG badass with a bow. The prince landed at the lowest branch with effortless balance his twin daggers reading for the next strike.
"Oh no…this is not going to end well."