Oh-no-suba! Part VII

You crack open Abridged Histories, and start reading one of the chapters, the one that followed the magical revolution,

"A Time of Little War
After the first Great Conflict had ended, and Magic had been introduced to the Machina Populus, Sidi rapidly grew in all facets compared to the other five of the small kingdoms. Magic could be used to enhance crop yield and quality, to better treat the sick, to better keep the peace, etc. Sidi's economic status had become the largest of the six small kingdoms, and its influence the most profound. For a period of about 60 years, no war was fought by any of the kingdoms, and luxury trades became commonplace among the naval routes of all six. Within this period was a large scale artistic movement, that launched the six small kingdoms into global stature in the eyes of many other nations, and gave us many of the plays, books, and other works of art that sit proudly in museums."

You close the book, and hear a door close along with the patter of feet. Olivia comes in to the living area wrapped in a towel, toting her clothes. She grabs the tea you left for her, and heads upstairs, avoiding eye contact the whole time.

Slightly later, you hear the front door, and you see the Kazuma party shambling into the home, Megumin slung over Kazuma's shoulder.

>"Oh shit, what happened?"

Aqua is the one to answer at first, "Small quest... Big mistake."
Kazuma follows as he places Megumin on the couch, "Her explosion, it was way more powerful than any of us had expected. We all got caught in the blast."
"It was quite exquisite," says Darkness.
"Fear me!" Megumin yells into the armrest, raising a finger in the air as a gesture of intimidation.

>"So you're all okay?"

"I'll be fine after a bit of rest," Says Kazuma.
Aqua and Darkness echo his response, and Megumin says that she's "never felt better," before promptly passing out.

"So what were you two out doing? Actually, where is Olivia?"

>"She's upstairs. We'd just been out to see the boss of that underground movement, pretty fun guy. We also went out to the library and... grabbed this book."

You show them Abridged Histories, and Darkness lights up.
"I remember this book!
We would read it when I was a child, I always found it so fascinating, all the stories of the knights of the old six kingdoms."

You and the party continue talking as you hoist an unconscious Megumin up the stairs and into her bed.
(1/2)

(2/2)

Afterward, you make your way downstairs and kill time, using your Conjure E. Whip to spar with Kazuma and darkness, practicing spells against Aqua, feeding Antilles, and generally chatting.
Eventually, dinner time comes around, and you make everyone pizza, as you had discovered a proper stone furnace while giving Antilles his afternoon meal.
Olivia comes down and eats with all of you, and most of the tension seems to have dissipated in the presence of the rest of the party.
After dinner, Darkness helps you clean up, and people wander off into their own corners.
Aware that you'll be receiving instruction soon, you stay downstairs. The only thing left to do now is wait.

Inbetween fruitless conversations, a few hours manage to pass, and at roughly 9:00 pm people head off to bed. About an hour later, and you hear a quiet metallic flutter amidst the now broken silence. You follow the direction of the noise, and find a small slip of paper by the front door.

"You'll be meeting my 2nd hand at the south gate tomorrow afternoon. Look for the red carriage drawn by a white and black horse. When you see it, jog across the street while holding hands, and walk north beside the road. Someone will bump into you and give you a note with the second signal and where to go next."

You stuff the note into your back pocket.

>Is there anything you'd like to do before you go upstairs to your room?

>>326707
Wonder what the hell we've actually gotten ourselves into.
Then head up to bed.
Hope you're still here, OP. Kinda enjoyed this quest, didn't see it at first.

>>327998
You ponder the possibility that you've engaged yourself in some pretty major shit, then you head upstairs.

In your room, you find Olivia already in bed. She breaks the awkward silence.

"You get the word?"

>"Yeah, by letter, slipped under the door."
You pull out the paper and show it to her.

"This is... Huh."

>"It's some Russian spy crap for sure."

"Well I don't want to sit on my ass all day down by the gate. It says afternoon, so if we show up at around twelve thirty we can almost certainly get away with it."

>"Gives us enough time to do something during the morning hours, any ideas?"

"Some short quest probably wouldn't hurt, it'd give us some extra XP.
But, I suppose we don't have to do anything specific like that, so if you've got any other suggestions I'm all ears."

You shrug and with some reluctance in your body language climb into the bed.

>"Sleeping in a real bed makes me remember how stiff I was today after waking up in a metal chair."

"My back gave me hell too. It's probably something to take into consideration, that not getting proper rest may harm our abilities the following day."

>"Sage advice."

A few moments pass, the two of you staring at opposite walls.

"Earlier... I didn't mean to-- I shouldn't've forced that on you."

>"Don't worry, we agreed we wouldn't talk about it."
--
The following morning, you wake at around seven, a surprisingly large amount of your surface area covered by blanket. Olivia is already up and out of sight, and you go down to make some breakfast, deciding on a nice and easy oatmeal.

Eventually, people make their way down to the smell of dried apple and cinnamon, and a wet haired Olivia from the direction of the bathroom. Aqua and Megumin both seem totally asleep still, while Darkness and Kazuma are wide awake. The group finishes breakfast a short while later, and soon everyone is ready to begin their day.

>What do you do?

>>328085
check what quests are available. Preferably something quick so we can go to the meeting around noon

>>328085
>supporting
>>328545
this anon. Unless we want to see about doing some research about starting not!McDonalds here.

>>328545
Everyone decides to head off to the guild hall.

"So are we gonna do something big together, or split into small groups again?" Asks Kazuma.

>"Olivia and I have something we need to do today, around noon."

"If there's something big enough to need a complete party, that we can do in three hours, then we can, but if not,"

"Gotcha."

"What are the two of you doing, anyway?" Asks Aqua.

>"Well uh..."

"Each other," says Megumin. You choke on some air, and Olivia does the same.

>"What? No!"
"Why would you think that? Jesus!"

"What, you've clearly been acting weird around each other. Besides, what if I do ask you what you're doing?"

>"We're... Well it's a secret, but not--"

"My point is proven."

Kazuma and Aqua just laugh as the party keeps walking, leaving you and Olivia to catch your breath.
You jog to catch up, and soon you reach the guild hall. The rest of the party finds a table, and you check out the job board for things that look doable in three hours.

-Found a few spiders nesting below my place, come clean them out. 12,000e.
-Demolish old building, don't care when you do it, just needs to be done day after tomorrow. NO MAGIC. 50,000e.
-Go hunting for elk, need 3-5. 10,000e for each.

>>328938
Ahaha, almost sprang for that house demo job and then I saw NO MAGIC. Kinda would've been perfect for Megumin.

Anyway, can't really hunt on a time limit, no telling how that'll go, so probably spiders. Any more details to that one?

How...uh...big are they talking, these spiders?

>>328938
Gotta kill them spiders. We be exterminators now.

I hate spiders

>>328961
>>329082
You touch the offering to see if it has any more details, but all it shows is a location. With that, you accept the quest, and decide who all to take.
Everyone is willing to go, despite some collective apprehension at the mention of spiders.

>>328085
Talk to maximums about wether we should tell them about earth

>>329233
Fucking autocorrect kazuma not Maximus >>329216
Bring darkness and Aqua, a tank and healer would be useful and Kazuma can hang out with megumin so she isn't bored

>>329216
Backing
>>329246
as far as teammates go.

Spiders are cool as long as they don't sneak up on me. Pretty vital part of things, really. But I know a lot of people don't necessarily share those feelings.

>>329233
>>329246

"Can I use explosions if I come?"

>"Absolutely not."

"Okay, I'll stay then."

"I'll stay too, so she's not alone," says Kazuma.

"That leaves Aqua and I."

"Y-y'know... On second thought, if K-Kazuma's staying..."

Darkness picks up Aqua kicking and screaming, and the four of you begin following the marker.
"Kazuma!"

It leads you past the shopping district to another residential area northwest of it, through a park that is split by a creek. These homes look far more high class than the others back toward the center of town, ranging from two to three stories, with a great deal of square footage by the looks of it. The marker places you by the door of one of the larger ones, and you pull the bellstring.

A youngish woman comes to the door.
"Oh, hello, you're from the guild?"
You nod and extend your hand. She shakes it, and Olivia and Darkness both greet her. Aqua just sort of mumbles something about spiders.
"Please, come this way."
She leads you back through the excessively clean house to a stairwell. Following it down, she takes you into a well furnished and carpeted basement.
"There's a trap door in the back corner of this room, the spiders are down in the cellar. Thank you so much for coming to take care of them!"
She leaves the four of you to do your business.

You walk over to the trap door, and tentatively crack it open. You don't see anything on first glance, so you open it the rest of the way. The light from the fixture in this room doesn't illuminate the cellar very well, but you can see most of the way down the stairs, not a cobweb in sight.

Darkness offers to enter first, and you oblige. She trots down the stairs at a more jubilant pace than most would have. A moment later, and she calls up to you, saying it's safe to come down. You light a fireball, and descend into the cellar, Olivia right behind you.

"I'll... Keep watch up here," says Aqua.

Soon you see Darkness ahead, looking around.

>"You see anything?"

"Not yet. I haven't even seen a web."

"Damn, this cellar's huge..."

>"Can't even see the walls."

"Let us explore further this way." You follow Darkness deeper into the darkness, snickering to yourself, a sensation of apprehension spreading over you.
A few paces more, and Darkness stops.

"Wait... Do you hear something?" You halt and listen. Come to think of it, a very small clicking sound is coming from right behind you. You turn to face it, but the sound follows your back. Actually, you realize, the sound is coming from your pack. You open it and search for the source, and find that the serpent ring's sound of machinations is louder than before.

>"Oh yeah, I'd totally forgotten about this thing."

You hardly have any time to examine it however, before you hear a scream from the direction you came.
A second later, a pale white Aqua sprints screaming past you.

"Aqua!"

Darkness bursts after her, and they both disappear into the darkness.

>"Wait! Don't just..."
You sigh.
(1/2)

(2/2)
You both run after the sounds of screaming and footsteps.

"Aqua, Darkness?"
>"Where'd you go?"

">>(you), Olivia, this way!"

You jog through the cold and empty cellar, and eventually find a sight that you're beginning to find less and less surprising.

Aqua and Darkness hang upside-down, limbs strewn in lewd positions, stuck to a giant spider web.

You and Olivia just stare blankly at the occurrence.

>"Y'know, you'd think this kinda shit'd be uncommon."

"D-don't just stand there! Help me!"

"Held unmoving... Unable to escape, suspended with my body exposed to the whim of dangerous arachnids... It's so--"

She's interrupted by vibrations in the web, and Aqua emits a squeak.

You notice a long spindly leg descend into the light along the web.

>What do you do?

>>329569
i kinda want to burn the net, but since our companions are trapped in it, cast a fireball at where we expect the spiders body to be

>>329569
What the other guy said seems decent.

Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>329586
>>329603

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>329603
>>329586
You send the fireball flying into battle, and it hits something, dealing ^ damage. The (presumably spider) emits a shriek and retreats into the darkness above, leaving you to cut down the two girls.
You use Mechis's Sword, and Olivia goes at it with the knife, and you've got them down in no time at all.
Soon after, a giant spider lowers from the ceiling and now stands before you, staring you down with six eyes, two hairy arms raised in the air.
On its the back of its cephalothorax is a burnt spot, where you hit it previously.

1d100 for every action.

Rolled 36 (1d100)

>>331339
Huh. Not immediately attacking? Wonder if we could relocate it rather than kill it? Eh, might just be getting ready to wreck us.

Either way prepare fireball, if it starts towards us roast the arachnid.

>>331423
It continues to stand in a defensive position, backing away slowly even.
Readying another fireball makes it flinch its arms upward further, and present its powerful fangs. At this point, Aqua whispers.
"There's... A-another..."
She raises a finger and points behind you.
You turn your head slowly as to not startle your foe, and sure enough, one of them has snuck up directly behind you, in a pouncing position. It stops creeping forward when it notices you looking back at it.
You manage to hold your ground, despite a nearly insurmountable urge to shit yourself, but it passes in the tense standoff.

Unfortunately, it appears that one of you wasn't so fortitudiness, as Aqua screams at the feeling of something hard and hairy touching her back.
The first spider charges and attempts to push you down with its powerful forelimbs. On instinct, you throw your fireball at it, but you miss. The second spider strafes to its right and does the same toward Olivia, while the third retreats from Aqua in a defensive stance, then strafes around to be within your line of sight.

Make 2d100 rolls for dodging, then 1d100 for every action.

Rolled 76, 96, 4 = 176 (3d100)

>>331905
Oh boy.

With us getting surrounded and snuck up on, probably best to get our backs to each other and work toward the stairs, or a wall, or something. Attack if they get too close, or if the opportunity presents itself.

>>331945
Huh.

Apparently the dice gods demand a peaceful solution, cause a 4 isn't gonna do much.

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>331945
You and Olivia dodge the spider's charges, and you toss another fireball unsuccessfully, while Darkness attempts to hit the spider which freaked Aqua.

Rolled 8 (1d12)

She manages to land a hit, but on the wrong spider. She hits the spider which attempted to attack you and deals ^ damage.

The two unscathed spiders attempt to swing at Olivia and Aqua, I need 4d100 for dodging, the an extra d100 for every action.

Rolled 64, 83, 89, 38 = 274 (4d100)

>>332123
Just dodging now if you're still here questbro

I'll do actions in the second post if that's alright

Bajanab

Rolled 7, 94, 21, 28 = 150 (4d100)

>>332123
Alright, so mostly okay I...think?

Anyway, get Darkness focused on the largest group, making them keep their distance, have Olivia and MC snipe from the sides, Aqua...

...um...keeps ready to heal I guess? Doesn't she have like no offensive capability?

Rolled 5, 5 = 10 (2d6)

>>332565
>>332578
You both successfully dodge two attacks from your respective spiders.

Darkness swings somewhat in the general direction of the group of two spiders to your 11.

You fireball the already hurt one with a critical, dealing ^ damage, and Olivia misses with an arrow.
Aqua clumsily readies herself for a heal.

Both of the spiders at the front attempt to take on Darkness, one getting into a pounce position, the other raising its arms for a two-strike attack.
The one that Olivia missed also readies another two-strike attack.
5d100 for dodging, you know the drill.

Rolled 24, 93, 52, 25, 78 = 272 (5d100)

>>332596
S'pose that heal will come in handy now.

Maybe.

Rolled 11, 80, 2, 69 = 162 (4d100)

>>333251
Anyway, keep up the pressure as best we're able. Tank is tanking, let's just focus down the spider trying to take down our ranged characters. So MC and Olivia's attacks there, heal should probably be needed shortly on our tank, and tank will...probably not hit anything at all, if canon dictates.

Rolled 76 (1d100)

>>332596
Does darkness have any sort of taunt skills? If yes, have her use it.

>>333256
>>333300
Darkness gets pounced on by the spider, emitting a moan as it happens and getting knocked to the floor. Subsequently, the other spider that had tried to two-strike her misses both.

You miss with a fireball, towards the spider closest to you, but Olivia hits with an arrow, dealing ^ damage.

Darkness attempts to push the spider off her, and ends up somehow removing her chest plate, >>333300 not only is that a great post number, but you rolled my favorite number while simultaneously making the spider fall face first between her cotton bound bust.

"N-no! Please, don't bind me in your webbing and do with me what you please, anything but that!"

The spider blushes I guess then scurries off into the darkness, leaving her free.
The other begins backing away slowly, and the one closest to you readies a pounce.

Just 1d100 for dodging this time

Rolled 48 (1d100)

>>334518
Well.

I guess that's a sort of taunt.

Something like that.

Rolled 96, 5, 41, 19 = 161 (4d100)

>>334592
Being injected with poison that turns your inside into a soupy mess while it paralyzes you sure doesn't sound appealing, but hey, must be a tank thing.

Really starting to feel like we're kicking a bunch of non-hostile critters, but flame on I guess.

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>334518
fuck

Rolled 6, 2 = 8 (2d6)

>>334592
>>334598
You dodge the pounce and respond with a fireball, landing a critical on the beast dealing ^ damage.

Olivia fires an invisible arrow at it, Darkness recovers, and Aqua just keeps standing there knockneed.

The spider raises four arms in stance for a large attack.
4d100.

Rolled 65, 83, 53, 47 = 248 (4d100)

>>334665