Blue hummed to themself as they walked cheerfully through the woods, their metal armor clanking as the knight made their way toward the town up ahead. Most people in such a situation wouldn't be cheerful at all. Most would be terrified, hesitant, probably feeling as if something is crawling on their skin no matter how much they try to brush it off. Yeah, Blue was headed right for a town infested with giant, hairy, creepy, crawly spiders.

Blue couldn't wait. They'd finished a simple mission that had ended up being much more annoying than they'd expected thanks to some giant spider monster suddenly showing up and trying to boss them around, not to mention blinding them like four times! And when they chased it down to try and eat it, it just disappeared! It left the ooze craving some spider, so they were ecstatic to hear that there was a town not too far away that had a giant spider problem that needed to be eate- taken care of.

They'd definitely take care of it, no problem! The townspeople had all evacuated and there was no one left in the town to see the knight go all out with their true, oozey self, so this should be easy. As long as some weirdo didn't show up out of nowhere and start telling them not to kill the spiders or something.

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Spiders, Again
Participants: Two or more
Location: Moonglade
Post Requirements: 6 posts per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +1 Renown, Choice of 2 Common crafting materials
Description: Giant spiders have always been an issue in Moonglade, and are a constant threat for anyone brave enough to enter the Shadewood. However, the recent disturbance in Charon's primordial energy has affected most wildlife, causing them to behave unnaturally. Swarms of giant spiders have recently been seen roaming around outside the Shadewood, even crossing into villages and established homesteads. We need help in corralling these spiders back into the Shadewood, or flat out killing them, whatever helps keep the citizens of Moonglade safe.

Tatalia felt... well, just a little terrified, hesitant, and felt like something was crawling on her skin. Well, no; it felt like something was crawling under her skin. In a way, it was.

A familiar sent of shivers ran through Tatalia's body as she approached the Moonveil Forest. Sure, it wasn't as if she was standing in the Spider's Canopy again, but... she'd been lost in the darkened depths of those woods for far too long not to feel some sort of reaction by looking into Moonveil Forest. She couldn't remember everything she had experienced when trapped in that shape for so long. She couldn't remember all the things... hopefully just things... that she ate.

The goblin's grip tightened about her sword. The thought only made her more determined to see her mission through.

Spiders were a plague upon the Moon Glade, and their attacks were getting more and more constant. Villages were being evacuated, so aggressive had the spiders become. Tatalia had no doubt there was something sinister behind their actions; she knew how incredibly cunning and vicious they could be. If the spiders were getting more active, then they had to be destroyed, plain and simple.

And who better to hunt a spider than a spider? Tatalia thought bitterly as she stalked the darkened paths along the trees. I've lived as one of them. I know what they do and why they do it. It's only natural I undertake this mission alone.

And as she thought that to herself, the goblin rounded the corner of the ruined, web-covered inn she was searching and nearly walked into a familiar armored shape.

"Oh, come on!" the little adventurer blurted out, gripping her forehead. "Not you again! Are you going to try to kill me again? Can we please not do that?"

The feeling Tatalia had about running into Blue again was mutual.

"YOU!" Blue shouted, pointing a finger at the spile of spiders back in their Goblin disguise again. They'd really hoped to never run into them again after their first and what they'd expected to be their last interaction together, but here they were, not even a few days later, in the same spider infested town!

"Hmph. I wasn't going to try to kill you anymore. Even though you were really annoying and blinded me a bunch of times. You gave me an apology snack, right?" Blue said in an annoyed tone, their arms crossed in front of them as they looked down at the Goblin that was nearly half their height.

"But I will eat that other big spider friend of yours if I see them." They finished in a warning declaration.

The Goblin-spiders was annoying and bossy, but the one big spider had thrown an actual bomb at them that they'd only managed to deflect by learning a slimy form of echolocation after being blinded by them twice, and had just disappeared without any kind of apology!

As they talked about that spider, another giant spider came crawling up behind the armored knight, fangs raised and ready to pounce, when it was suddenly crushed beneath a heavy slam of a slimy tail protruding from the ooze knight's back.

"Are you here to tell me not to kill or eat these spiders? Are they your family or something?" Blue asked in a completely serious voice completely devoid of any sarcasm, but absolutely dripping with irritation.

It wasn't an apology snack that Tatalia had thrown at the ooze. It had only been thrown at him in an attempt to slow him down, and while it did not accomplish that, it seemed to have mollified him. That was good! That was... good...

Tatalia didn't like that threat - no, that promise - to eat the "other spider." That wasn't exactly comforting given that she was the other spider, and that sounded like a barrier that would have to be brought down sooner than later. Tatalia weighed her options in her head. Did she want to try to be honest? Sure, certainly! Honesty was (on paper at least) a great policy sometimes! However, she also didn't want to have to somehow escape from the blue monster again. Maybe lying was easier. It usually was!

It'll be easier until you have to turn into an ugly spider monster again, Tatalia's inner pragmatist told her.

Shutup, Tatalia told her inner pragmatist.

Nevertheless, it was true. She hated to admit it, but maybe she could try to suss out exactly how to earn the ooze person's trust. She'd need to do that, the goblin figured, mostly because she realized the ooze was there to do the exact same thing she was. Again. And she didn't want that to go badly again.

With a deep breath, Tatalia prepared herself to ask some very important qu-

"Are you here to tell me not to kill or eat these spiders? Are they your family or something?" asked the irritated ooze.

"Wha- No!" shouted the indignant rogue. Then she caught herself, held up her hand in a 'wait' motion, and calmed herself down. "No," she repeated a second later in a gentler voice. "I'm not going to tell you not to kill those spiders. They are awful and terrible and they like to eat people, which is generally a thing that people shouldn't do! Eat people, that is.

"Erm. Not that you're terrible, mind you!" the goblin added quickly, laughing and rubbing the back of her neck as she imagined her grisly fate if she didn't make that note. "Just... a little misguided! I- Erm... I'm messing this up all over again, aren't I?"

The goblin took a deep breath, and she decided to approach the ooze slowly. With incredible caution, she... held up her hand and smiled politely up at the much larger figure.

"Let's try this again. My name is Tatalia," she began, her speech a little slow, but her tone not patronizing. "I'd like to shake your hand. Erm, without you eating it or me, that is! A handshake is something we do when we're trying to be polite, like when we're meeting someone for the first time, and... I'd very much like to start off on friendlier terms than last time.

"And, ah, I'm very sorry for how I acted before? I thought you were going to kill me, mind you, so I was just trying to survive!" the goblin explained. "Ah, and I wasn't trying to blind you! I was trying to blind the bandits. And, erm... I might be related to these spiders, but I actually really want them dead. They're not nice spiders."

Blue kept feeling like this Goblin was insulting them and then saying they didn't mean it like that and then insulting them again. Blue put their hands on their hips and leaned forward, bringing their helmet covered face closer to eye level with Tatalia.

"I'm not little Miss Guided, you're little Miss Guided!" They said indignantly, pointing a finger at her before standing back up straight. "And I know what a handshake is. I'm not that stupid. And I don't eat everyone I meet, just bad people, and I only eat them after I kill them! _{Most of the time}."

Blue mumbled that last part quietly. Originally, as an ooze, they did eat living people, but they'd been taught not to do that by their best friend who said it was a bad thing to do though they still did do it accidentally on occasion. A lot of their morals had been taught to them by Astrid, so being told they were wrong and hadn't been taught correctly felt like an insult not only to them, but to their best friend as well, and they weren't going to sit there and listen to someone insulting Astrid like that.

Blue reached down a hand and gave Tatalia's a quick shake. Their grip was strong, but had a very slightly squishiness to it as if the hand inside the gauntlet wasn't fully solid. At least, it wasn't as solid as flesh and bone. It was actually more solid than one might expect for an ooze.

"I wasn't trying to kill you. Just that other big spider that threw a bomb at me and tried to kill me. You're annoying and talk too much, and blinded me a bunch, but that doesn't mean I can kill you." Blue said, crossing their arms in front of them again. "My name is Blue Raspberry."

They figured, with Tatalia already knowing they're an ooze, they might as well tell her their real name instead of their human name.

"No, no! 'A little misguided,' that's not- that's not- you're saying that like it's a name!" Tatalia sputtered, clutching her forehead. "Misguided is, like... It's when someone has been led astray, or when someone has been brought down the wrong path."

It probably wasn't worth trying to explain that particular word. Tatalia had a feeling she needed to start with the basics and figure out exactly what the ooze knew and how much of it before she started trying to give any lessons. She closed her eyes and tried, really tried to just let the absurdity of the situation just wash over her.

"Well... Mister Blue Raspberry, I- wait. Mister? Miss? ...Gentleperson?" Tatalia paused, realizing that she wasn't really sure exactly what the ooze like to call themself. She was suddenly very self conscious about how rude she was possibly being. "Erm, please state your preference? Blue Raspberry, I'm glad that you don't want to kill me, but..."

Tatalia pinched her brow. She really didn't want to accidentally start a fight again, and she really didn't know what the ooze would do if she told them the truth about the "other spider." She decided to just avoid that topic for the time being... sort of.

"I can promise you that the other spider did not want to kill you!" Tatalia decided to say, rubbing the back of her neck. "She was... scared. I mean, you may not realize it, but you have a terrifying presence. She was trying to help, and then you charged at her, and she became... very scared. She was trying to make you go away, and clearly she could have chosen a better way to do that. I'm, um, sure she'll apologize the next time you see her! She's very sorry. I'm sure of it."

Tatalia felt like she was going to be very sorry she even tried speaking in defense of the "other spider." She decided to quickly change topics.

"So! About these spiders," Tatalia continued, waving toward the web covered village. "They're, ah, not very nice, as I may have said already. They're incredibly murderous. If you'll allow, I'd like to help you - and I can make sure you don't get blinded this time!

"I'll admit, erm... I'm used to taking a strategic role in most things," the little goblin added, clearing her throat. "The planning role! The person who makes plans? But I suspect you don't want me doing that. Erm, would you allow me to help you? And would you acquiesce to my leadership should the situation call for it?"

Tatalia paused. She almost forgot the most important part!

"...You can eat all the bad spiders that aren't me or the big green spider if you want?"

Blue looked around at the spiderweb covered town crawling with spiders. No, this was definitely where they'd meant to be. They definitely hadn't gone down the wrong path. And they hadn't lead any stray animals here. They looked back at Tatalia with a slightly tilted head. Just what the heck was this crazy Goblin talking about?

"I'm not misguided. You can just call me Blue."

They weren't really a man, since they were an ooze, but they did disguise themself as a man. It didn't matter all that much though. They didn't need to be addressed as mister. Really, if they needed to be addressed by some title, it'd be lord, but they didn't care to tell Tatalia they were a nobleman. It was really their human disguise that was a nobleman anyways.

"So you don't care if I eat any of these spiders, except that green one, even though they're all your family?" Blue asked, a bit confused.

If she's related to all these spiders, that meant they were family, right? Or did it not? They guess they weren't actually related to anyone in their own family... But it sounded like she did care a lot about that one spider. And they were sorry they threw a bomb at them.

"Fine, I won't eat that one if they apologize for throwing a bomb at me." Blue said sincerely, but pointed a finger at Tatalia. "But if they throw another bomb at me, I won't forgive them!"

Blue thought about Tatalia's offer to help for a moment, but kept thinking back to her bossing them around while they were in the bandit camp and getting irritated.

"I already have a plan." Blue said as they stepped aside to show the scene of carnage already behind them. Squashed, broken spiders were strewn about the road and all the buildings already had their doors wide open from Blue entering to get to any spiders hidden inside. "Kill all the spiders and then go back and eat them and all the webs."

"You won't kill all the spiders that way, though," Tatalia explained, jogging to keep up with Blue. "You'd be chasing them all throughout the thick woods, and the problem with that is the trees get so thick you can't really fly! You'd need some very special skills to chase them down... and even then, they'd scatter, and if you wanted to catch them it could take weeks. Or months!

"But!" Tatalia, having already jogged ahead a good ten yards, threw her arms out wide and grinned at the armored ooze. "But what if I told you there was a way we could gather up a whole army of the nasty spiders for you to eat all at once? What if I told you that I knew how to lure them to one place so you could kill them all and have the biggest buffet of your life? And not only that, but it'd take a day, maybe two tops!"

Tatalia's eyes gleamed. She had a plan. Oh, did she have a plan. And to make that plan work, she needed a powerhouse like the talking ooze person that she could point in the right direction. She had to sell the idea to him. She had to get him to want to work together as much as she did!

"Listen - I know we got off to a bad start before! But I really, really, really think you'll find we make a good team if you just give me a chance!" The goblin swiped her goggles off her head, then held them up for Blue to inspect them.¹ "See these? I'll let you borrow them, though you have to promise not to eat them! If you wear them, you'll be able to see just fine, but when I blind the spiders with my lights, you won't be affected at all!

"And you remember how much it hurt to get hit with that blinding stuff, right? It was awful, right? Well, spiders have eight eyes, so imagine how much super-extra-blind they'll be! It'll be really awful for them, and you'll have a tasty snack in no time!"

The goblin folded her arms over her chest, the goggles dangling from her green hand. She cast a many-toothed grin up at Blue, her sharp fangs glistening in the sunlight. When she spoke again, it was in her sweetest, most pleading, most innocent voice.

"Teammates? Pleeeeaaaase?"

Tatalia hoped her audience was susceptible to that sort of thing.

---

_{1. Sun Sparked Goggles}

Blue considered everything Tatalia was saying as they looked down at her. As much as they didn't want to admit it, everything she was saying was... kind of true... They would have to chase down any spiders that ran away and that would take a while even if they could move pretty fast. They'd probably lose a lot of the spiders, and a lot of their meal. The ooze wasn't much of an expert tracker. Also a bunch of the spiders getting away would mean this area was still too dangerous for people to move back to. The people who sent them here might not be happy with them if that happened.

Blue took the pair of goggles and looked them over. They were a lot like the ones Astrid always wore. Those protected her eyes from bright lights. Maybe they should have asked her to make them a pair, or put whatever was in these goggles in their helmet. Then they wouldn't have been blinded back at the bandit camp either.

"Yeah, I remember." Blue answered, their voice betraying their annoyance. Yeah, Blue definitely remembered how much those bright flashes of light hurt, and being reminded didn't help Tatalia's case for why they should be working together.

The goggles were too small to fit over their helmet, so Blue just stuck them up inside the bottom of their helmet and fitted them into place so they were looking through them. From an outside perspective, it might have looked like they just ate them right after being told not to.

"Fine. Teammates. So what's your plan?"

It was really quite a bold plan. Not many plans combined subterfuge with raw destruction so well.

The plan involved an ambush in the center of a darkened grove within the woods. Tatalia had planted some explosives at the base of the surrounding trees¹ and had lined them with deadwood, firewood, thatch, and other kindling taken from the nearby village. She had also collected some fat from dead animals, lantern oil, cooking oil; really, anything fatty or oily that might spread flame easily. 

Yes, Tatalia knew that she could stop forest fires, but it was going to be much more effective to start one. A controlled one, mind you! She had ways to keep it from spreading too far!

"The plan is simple," she had told Blue as she set up a collection of wires up in the trees,² each armed with pieces of metal ready to strike each other and light rope³ fuses. "You are going to bring the spiders to us! You'll march through their most populated areas, run away - and I mean it, run away! - and lure them to our ambush point. They'd normally have a severe numbers and mobility advantage against us, but they're terrified of fire, so we'll set fire to the ground and trees around them so they'll have nowhere to run! We'll leave them with only a single, narrow exit... and they'll have to get through us to leave!"

It wasn't a bad plan, all said and done. Unfortunately, Tatalia explained, she wouldn't smell tasty to the spiders because she was a spider, sort of. She didn't go into detail on that (and really, didn't Blue already know she was a pile of spiders?), but it meant they wouldn't try to eat her. They would, however, try to eat Blue Raspberry... if they made the ooze tantalizing enough.

So, Tatalia had gone into the village and collected all sorts of awful things from the dead animals left in the spiders' wake. Dead chickens, dead dogs, dead sheep; all made their noble sacrifice to the cause. A nasty, soupy mess of guts and innards was deposited in a big bucket on the ground along with some specific herbs Tatalia had picked out from someone's kitchen. And then she asked Blue to pretty, pretty please make themself smell like all that nasty stuff.

"They can't resist weak and wounded prey," Tatalia explained, grinning wildly as she spoke with the ooze. "A little touch of death and gore makes you all the sweeter to their arachnid senses, too. Just cover your armor in bloody bits, run away when they see you, and lure them here. I'll handle the rest!"

Of course, that had been an hour ago. She hadn't stuck around to see if Blue would listen. The goblin had immediately left to hide at the designated fighting point and was concealed beneath her camouflaged cloak.⁴ She kept still, waiting in silence with her hand on the cord that would activate the trap, her sword sheathed at her belt and ready to be drawn at a moment's notice. All she had to do was wait for Blue Raspberry to return with an army of spiders on his heels.

They DID follow through with the plan, right? Tatalia asked herself silently.

---

_{1. Improvisation Engineer (Crude Gunpowder, Sticky Paste, Glass Spheres); 2. Creative Inventor (Anchors, Carabiners, Spidersilk Wire); 3. Rope; 4. Camouflage Kit}

Okay, all they had to do was dump this stuff on them and run around to get the spiders' attention. Easy enough. Lure the spiders all into one big trap so they couldn't run away. Yup, that sounded good. A plan so simple an ooze could do it. Maybe.

Blue looked down into the revolting bucket of mashed up innards and herbs. It smelled like death, with just a hint of oregano. Truly revolting to anyone who caught a whiff of it. And yet...

"One little taste wouldn't hurt..." Blue muttered to themself as they picked up the bucket and brought it to the top of their cuirass, tipping the bucket and pouring a little of the mixture into the hole in the top of their armor to drink the nasty mixture. And then kept tipping it. And tipping it.

"Ah, that was pretty good. Okay, now to just pour the rest on me." Blue said cheerily, the ooze having enjoyed the noxious mixture like it was a pleasant bowl of soup. They lifted the bucket up over their head and turned it upside down. And waited. They gave the bucket a little shake. And waited. They brought the bucket back down and looked in it.

"Uh-oh." The bucket was completely empty. "Uhhhh...."

Oh shit. They messed up! They accidentally drank all of it and now there was nothing left to dump on themself to attract the spiders! What do they do? What did Tatalia say? Just cover yourself in bloody bits? They'd smell sweet?

Blue looked around. The animals they'd already drained for the soup were still around, but they were drained of blood by both Tatalia and the spiders who had killed them beforehand. The only blood Blue could see was the remains of the spiders they'd squashed before.

Blue's form shifted as their armor was engulfed in blue ooze and absorbed, the knight falling onto all fours and growing larger. Blue fur sprouted and their limbs reformed themselves into four legs, their head elongating into a pointed muzzle and a large, fluffy tail forming behind them. The large, blue wolf ran over to one of the squashed siders and rolled around in it, getting themself all covered in the spider guts and greenish blood before running around town.

"Ow, ooh, ow, I'm so injured! Owwww! Come get meeee." Blue called out, their acting skills as good as their self control, but it looked like it had done the job anyways. Their bad acting aside, the spiders crawled out to see the blue wolf running around and smelled the blood on them of one of their own. Instead of hunger driving them to attack, instead it was anger and a thrist for revenge.

The method being slightly different aside, the spiders were chasing Blue toward Tatalia at a fast rate, Blue glad they were in their wolf form or they might not have been able to run fast enough to keep from being caught by the hoard of spiders chasing them down.

---

Shapeshifter's Plate

Really, Tatalia should've known better. She should have! Why did she think any plan that wasn't made up on the spot would ever not be turned on its head?

On the one hand, sure, it was good that the spiders were chasing Blue, just like she'd wanted. Why, it was actually a really good thing! But the problem was they were furious. They were angry. They were absolutely, positively possessed with rage and were definitely going to give the hunt their all.

Tatalia thought about yelling some sort of warning for Blue, not wanting the ooze to forget the plan and, say, run directly into one of her bombs, but the chittering and skittering of the endless tide of spiders was so loud that it completely drowned out all other noise. Honestly, just seeing the tide of arachnid bodies swarming across the trees and the ground made her skin crawl, and she was a bit of a spider herself!

"Well," Tatalia whispered, giving the little cord next to her a sharp tug. "Here goes nothing?"

Sparks ignited at five separate points in the grove as five separate sets of metal contraptions snapped across each other's surfaces. Those sparks fell upon fat covered sections of rope that quickly ignited. The fuses hissed, growing shorter and shorter and shorter, and then...
B_oOo_OM!^!

Successive blasts of gunpowder rocked the grove. The trees were aflame like the candles of an unfortunate birthday cake lit up by someone that was overeager and bad with matches. Several aged and proud trees came crashing down upon the forest floor and were immediately ignited by the plethora of flammable substances blazing upon the ground.

A few spiders were far enough back or had fast enough reflexes to neither get caught in the explosions nor to be trapped in the circle of flames. A fair few found themselves soaring through the air flailing and missing several limbs. Most, however, were left staring about in shock and alarm as all their escape paths were cut off by a circle of flames that would've made the most ardent arsonist blush.

Of course, the explosions didn't go off exactly as Tatalia had intended. Yes, there was only one escape route. Yes, the spiders would have to fight through herself and Blue to get through. However, a couple of the tallest trees up above were teetering on the edge of collapse... toward the battlefield!

This has to be quick, Tatalia thought to herself. She darted up behind the wolf-shaped ooze and slipped her dagger from her sleeve, shining its light so that any spiders looking toward herself and Blue were instantly blinded.¹ Angry and confused screeching noises rose into the air.

"That's the dinner bell!" Tatalia shouted over the din to Blue. "Do your thing!"

---

_{1. Flash Enchantment (Dagger)}

Blue Wolfberry skidded to a stop and turned around to face the swarm of spiders trapped inside the ring of fire with them. Finally, the complicated part of the plan (by which I mean the part that took more thought than "smash") was over! Now it was time for their part (smash)!

Before the spiders could recover from being blinded by the bright flash, the blue wolf started to transform. They stood back up onto their hind legs which thickened to support the weight of the torso above them as their body reshaped into a more humanoid form. The wolf tail grew longer and thicker as the fur flattened down into a smooth, serpentine tail flanked on either side by another long tail, these two complete with spiked pads on the tips. The fur on Blue's back stood straight up and lengthened into solid, sharp spikes. A second pair of arms grew beneath the first and a thin tentacle grew from either shoulder.

Blue stood at twelve feet tall, their form a monstrous blue hybrid of werewolf, porcupine, and some creature with too many limbs for comfort. And also crackling with electricity. Let's go with jellyfish. An evil jellyfish.

Many of the spiders didn't even know what hit them, and the ones that managed to get over their blindness before being smashed still had no idea what the hell hit them even after seeing it.

---

Red Rogue's Coat
Eldritch Claws
Prehensile Tail
Displacer Tails
Extra Arms
Lightning Armor

Tatalia was proud of her handiwork. She'd done her job, and Blue Raspberry was doing his.

Unfortunately, some of the spiders were getting wise and were starting to regroup. They were cunning things, those spiders, born with an intellect that was almost human, and while many of their sisters were being slaughtered left and right, a number were preparing some sort of web trap for Blue. And sure, Blue could probably escape such a trap eventually, but if enough spiders piled onto them while they were doing their whole... ooze thing...

Tatalia sighed. She really didn't want to get involved. Blue was the better fighter for certain. Still, it was clearly her time to lend a little violence to the situation.

The fleet footed goblin dashed across the blazing battlefield, bounding boldly beyond the baleful beasts that bayed for blood below. They screeched at her and scraped the ground, but her magical boots put distance between her and them, and she landed amidst those spiders that were preparing their trap. They spat at her in their spider tongue, in a language only those of arachnid mind could comprehend without the aid of magic:

Wicked sister would dance with death,
Play with fire and evil games!
Spiders will take her final breath,
Make her suffer and feel shame!

Spiders can play little games too,
Tricksier than yours would be!
Spiders will eat your friend so blue,
Then we'll see how mean you be!

"Oh, shutup!" Tatalia snapped. Then she zipped forward¹ and stabbed the lead singer in the face.

It wasn't an elegant stab. It wasn't some legendary stab with a legendary blade that rocked the heavens. It was just a good stab with a good sword to an ugly face. The spider squeaked and sputtered, then it died.

The other spiders were understandably upset. They leapt at Tatalia, and she started swinging her blade in wild, rapid motions, the enchantment on her weapon letting her swing her arms in rapid motions. Swish and slash,² stab and bash, she fought like her life depended on it. And it did! So, sure, she wasn't as mighty a warrior as the ooze, but that goblin was holding her own!

Unfortunately for all parties involved, one of the trees that had been caught in the explosion - a truly ancient and massive tree - was groaning precariously. It slowly started falling toward the bedlam below, ready to make soupy messes out of everyone involved!

Good job breaking things, heroes!

---

_{1. Dashing Enchantment (Short Sword); 2. Double Strike Enchantment (Short Sword)}

Blue was having a great time. The ooze dashed around, slicing spiders apart, crushing them, electrocuting them, and most importantly, devouring them. There were so many spiders it was like an all they could eat buffet. Almost. No matter how many spiders showed up, Blue could always eat more. The ooze was very literally insatiable, but that just meant they enjoyed the buffet even more without having to worry about overeating or stomach pain.

Even when the spiders started grouping together to try and take Blue down, they weren't worried at all. The massive monstrosity impaled spiders on their back and tails, spat acid from their wolfen mouth, and slurped up strands of web along with the spider on the end like they were enjoying an oversized plate of spaghetti and meatballs. It wouldn't be long before the spiders were all taken care of and thanks to the ring of burning trees, none of them were going anywhere except the ooze's stomach. Man, they should actually plan things out more often!

Blue looked around for the next group of spiders and suddenly spotted Tatalia in the middle of a swarm, swinging her dagger like crazy. What was she doing in here? Was she hungry too? Wait, that wasn't important, what was important was that she was about to be flattened beneath a huge tree falling right toward her!

Blue rushed forward and opened their mouth to let a gooey blue tongue shoot out faster than the eye could see. The end stuck to Tatalia and suddenly pulled her out from beneath the burning tree before it crashed down with a loud boom. Blue was a bit sad to see a bunch of spiders crushed and burning to ash beneath the tree that they wouldn't be able to eat now. Oh well. At least there were plenty more spiders to eat. They could already feel another one in their mouth just thinking about it...

Oh wait, that's not a spider.

"Blegh." Blue leaned down and spat out the Goblin that was stuck halfway in their mouth onto the ground in front of them, soaked in a puddle of blue slime.

"Are you okay?"