Preview of Mana-arachnid. May 23 Monthly.
#2 of Subscriber Previews
This is an excerpt from a story that you can read the full version of on either my Subscribestar page by following this link! Or with my Patreon page over here! It will still make its way to FA before too long, though. But every bit of support you can offer would help me so much!
A poll winner from the month of May!
Summary: Adventurer Vera is muscling her way through a dungeon delve riddled with bad luck. Slaying the spider was one thing, yet when the boots she received as a reward turn out to be cursed, she stumbles into the slain spider's snares...
She felt something off several paces later. A sudden tightness at the ankle and a twist of her foot made her stumble forward. She caught herself from falling yet the recently added potion vial slipped free, cracking on the floor! Worse, the solid thud of the boots changed with each frantic step, getting harder and sharper, forcing her onto her toes and raising the heel off the ground, making it all the harder to balance. She glanced down, shocked to see that the footwear had morphed!
The flat sole had morphed to raised heels, six inches high, the solid make of the boot had tightened down across the top of her foot and the solid toe-cap had transformed, pulling away from the front, revealing her digits, and reforming into a cage-like lattice that ringed each toe, squeezed above the foot and clasped as tightly as a manacle on her leg. They were cursed!
"Damn it! Why?! Ooooh... there better be a scroll in this place." She hissed, stamping the offending footwear down, even balancing with her staff so she could reach with her hand to try and tug one off, already knowing it would be useless.
As she wiggled her staff pulled back in a slightly odd way, jeopardising her balance and causing her to stumble once again until she felt something squish, softer than the dungeon's stones and unfortunately helping her to stabilise in a different way. She shut her eyes, taking a second to prepare herself for what she guessed she would see.
Webbing. Gross, thick, sticky webbing from the spider was squashed around the pointed heels and the toes of both of the boots. Her toes curled up in revulsion, feeling a strand tugging on one of her claws. That also explained her quarterstaff, the bottom of it had several of the threads clinging on.
The strand pulled back on her, the wet, clammy chill of more webbing slipped along a toe. "Oh no, no, no!" She growled, tugging her staff, splitting it from the floor and using it to shove at the moving webs, a signature of the beast known as a mana-arachnid! Cursed shoes, an enchanted giant spider and the latent magic that remained even after its death in its webs. She pulled and prodded as best as she could, still just able to step up from the gooey webs, though not being left enough space to step fully clear of it.
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She felt something off several paces later. A sudden tightness at the ankle and a twist of her foot made her stumble forward. She caught herself from falling yet the recently added potion vial slipped free, cracking on the floor! Worse, the solid thud of the boots changed with each frantic step, getting harder and sharper, forcing her onto her toes and raising the heel off the ground, making it all the harder to balance. She glanced down, shocked to see that the footwear had morphed!
The flat sole had morphed to raised heels, six inches high, the solid make of the boot had tightened down across the top of her foot and the solid toe-cap had transformed, pulling away from the front, revealing her digits, and reforming into a cage-like lattice that ringed each toe, squeezed above the foot and clasped as tightly as a manacle on her leg. They were cursed!
"Damn it! Why?! Ooooh... there better be a scroll in this place." She hissed, stamping the offending footwear down, even balancing with her staff so she could reach with her hand to try and tug one off, already knowing it would be useless.
As she wiggled her staff pulled back in a slightly odd way, jeopardising her balance and causing her to stumble once again until she felt something squish, softer than the dungeon's stones and unfortunately helping her to stabilise in a different way. She shut her eyes, taking a second to prepare herself for what she guessed she would see.
Webbing. Gross, thick, sticky webbing from the spider was squashed around the pointed heels and the toes of both of the boots. Her toes curled up in revulsion, feeling a strand tugging on one of her claws. That also explained her quarterstaff, the bottom of it had several of the threads clinging on.
The strand pulled back on her, the wet, clammy chill of more webbing slipped along a toe. "Oh no, no, no!" She growled, tugging her staff, splitting it from the floor and using it to shove at the moving webs, a signature of the beast known as a mana-arachnid! Cursed shoes, an enchanted giant spider and the latent magic that remained even after its death in its webs. She pulled and prodded as best as she could, still just able to step up from the gooey webs, though not being left enough space to step fully clear of it.