::In several prominent locations in the Red Dragon Inn, copies of the same letter are posted. They were posted by a sickly-looking teenage boy late last night. He appeared long enough to hang the letters, then he quickly left. There is one on the wall by the door. One is posted on the wall behind the bar. Another near the hearth. They were hurriedly written, with a shaky hand. Anyone who entered the Inn in the coming days would have the opportunity to read, respond, or react to the letters, if they chose to.::

To Anyone Who Reads This:

I'm writing this letter to anyone who's willing to read it.

I need help.

For several months now I've been living in a shack in the western woods. I am a prisoner here.

My captor is a deadly creature, an abomination, a hellish cross of a human being and an arachnid. She sleeps in the day and hunts by night, and she is always hungry.

I don't eat well. The spider drags in things from the night, but the raw meat and bloody carcasses make me sick. I usually can't manage more than a few bites. I believe she keeps me malnourished in an effort to keep me weak.

Recently, the spider lady has begun allowing me a taste of temporary freedom. On occasion she grants me permission to roam the night, so long as I return by dawn. This is how I'm able to post this letter. But soon I must return to the woods. If I don't return she will hunt me down, and she is a very, very keen hunter. She can cover an entire block in a single bound. She can see crystal clearly in the deepest dark. She can smell my scent miles and miles away. Believe me when I tell you the spider will not sleep unless I am here. Each day at dawn she spins me in a gentle web, coils her arms and legs around me, and I dangle in her silky embrace until nightfall. I am her teddy bear, it seems.

I am trying to give her the impression that I'm adapting to my lifestyle, but I am not. I need to be free of this nightmare.

Sometimes I feel an emptiness in my hand, as if something belongs in it. I am not certain, but I have a strong feeling that I have some skill with a sword. If I only had a sword, perhaps I could strike my captor down with it. Unfortunately, I have no money to purchase one. Swords are expensive.

I need help. If you are not up to confronting the spider woman face to face, perhaps you could gift me a sword, or, for that matter, any weapon. An axe. A spear. Anything. Leave it here at the inn for me and I will retrieve it when next I visit. I do not beg for a charity rescue. I am willing to fight my way free.

If you come, brave adventurer, come during the day when the spider sleeps. And If you come, you must be ready to kill her. If she lives, she will only hunt me down again and the whole effort will be wasted.

Below is a map to the shack in the woods where I am jailed. "X" marks the spot.

RhyDin—————————————————————————————————————- X <—-I am here! http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u196/TLane11/skylermap.jpg

I know my first name is Skyler, but beyond that, I know nothing. Please, help me.

A million thanks,

Skyler

The battle hardened old dwarf looked up at the note on the hearth of the inn. He squinted his one good eye, to read it and heaved a disgusted snort afterward.

Grimm's sense of valor couldn't allow this lad to stay in captivity forever, and his sense of honor and devotion to Moradin, the God of the Dwarves couldn't allow him to stand by idly and let the boy be a slave or perhaps worse for what days he had.

"Poor lad," was all Ingkit Grimmjow, more commonly known as Grimm, could muster as he already began to plan his adventure. He wished he had a few companions for this journey, but he didn't really know anyone inside of the city. Still, he wasn't deterred in his quest.

Going to the abandoned mine he called home, Grimm readied himself. He carefully donned his armor, a breastplate and greaves, gauntlets and boots. His helmet was as unigue as any dwarf's battle helmet. Close to the skull with an axe head fabricated upon it. His shield was imprinted with a forge hammer and billow, the symbols of his clan.

And then there was his axe. An axe of fine adamantium, forged to a heavy blade one one end and a hammer head on the other. Grimm considered it his finest work, a weapon fine for lopping off and crushing skulls both.

The Dwarf stepped out onto the path, just before sunrise. He walked through the town parading himself as the proud warrior that he was. In the mountains, this would often cause his kinsmen to take up arms and go with him, perhaps it would work with these townsfolk. At the end of the town, lie the road that led to the so called scary woods and the spider lady who held the lad captive.

He didn't hesitate, he had even started to sing the battle song of Clanggedin, the dwarven God of battle.

He awoke to the unmistakable trickle of slobber on his head. Ughhh! Not again! Skyler moaned miserably, struggling against the cocoon of the web. He hated when she licked him; it was almost the grossest thing she could do. It would dry to a plastery pulp in his hair, and in the morning he would have to walk down to the stream and wash it all out.

Then came the venom injection. His eyes rolled back in his head as the drug-like liquid poured into his mouth. This stuff was bad, but he was getting used to it. It was basically like being drunk, but it tasted much, much worse, like urine mixed with cough syrup. He gagged a little, but when it was inside of him his ability to think and feel began to fade. His eyes rolled back into his head.

Before he slipped into unconsciousness, he said a prayer in his head. Please, let someone see my letter and respond. Please.

On his first trip into the Inn, he spotted the crude map and plea for help. Quickly he jugded at least two or three people would try and rescue the boy. But who knows if they would be successfull or not. It would always be good to have one more hand, at helping.

So, exiting the Inn. Upon his return he had a simple sword, nothing fancy about it in any way. Save that it was in perfect condition, and outstandingly light, nothing else was changed about this Blade.

Spining it once over, setting it leaned up against the wall. Righting on the posted sheet.

"You owe me. -Rois, Jack"

Sonia's eyes flew open, nostrils flaring. She smelled an unwelcome presence. "Skyler, we're not alone," she whispered.

She unwrapped her limbs from the boy and lowered herself to the floor, moving to the window for a look outside. This was not her element " the daylight. Whoever lurked outside knew this information. "Come back when the moon rises, coward," she muttered, squinting.

He was not advancing. It was a he, she was sure. That much she could detect from his scent. He remained stationary, watching her from somewhere, casing her, as a good hunter would.

She took this chance to secure her one and only possession of value " the boy cocooned in silk beside her. Weaving her hands in intricate patterns, she spun a glorious web that spanned from ceiling to floor and hoisted Skyler to the center of it. The boy hanged there as if on a crucifix.

The Spider herself retreated to the back of the shack, into the most shadowy corner. She climbed to the ceiling and clung to it, watching the front door. The front door was the only door, and the only window was the one next to it. Whoever entered would have to come through there. When he did, his eyes would likely be drawn to the spectacle of the boy helplessly enclosed in spider silk.

While he was distracted by that sight, the spider would strike.

Distantly she was aware of another scent. Another presence in her home. This one was further back in the woods, but coming ever closer. He was not quite as stealthy, but he smelled just as dangerous.

Dangling from the ceiling, she waited for her challenger " or challengers " to arrive.

She responded the way any creature would when cornered in its own lair. Rage filled her, quickly replacing fear. With every splinter that flew from the door, with every swing of the axe's blade as it hacked its way through, the spider's anger intensified.

The being which emerged filled her with nausea. A dwarf, she thought, loathsomely. Bumbling, clumsy, race of fools with no class and more brawn than brains. What nerve it had, coming here! What foolhardy ignorance! What an incredible death wish he must have, barging into the lair of Sonia the Spider.

Sonia watched him for only a moment, then sprang into action. She leapt down from the ceiling, gliding through the air as lightly as an autumn leaf on a long, swirling fall from a high branch. Landing, she thrust her arms and legs onto the rickety floorboards of the shack to punctuate the sound of her arrival with a loud crash.

On all fours she glared at the intruder.

Then, suddenly, two more arms and two more legs began to sprout from her body, like tendrils bursting from a demon. She hadn't taken her spider form in some time, but now, in the heat of combat, she began to transform. Her front teeth lengthened into fangs. Her eyes went red. Dark fur pushed up from her pores.

A low sound formed deep in her stomach. Her mouth opened . . . and kept opening, until it was a gaping black pit, her jaw hanging low enough to swallow a cat whole. The sound intensified, winding its way up through her chest, like an approaching siren growing ever louder. Her slender neck bulged sickeningly as the sound ripped out of her, a scream inhuman and raw and furious.

"INTERLOPER!"

The glass in the shack's only window shattered. Shards flew in both directions, showering the dwarf and sprinkling the wooden floors. At the same moment, the spider unleashed her most deadly weapon. The black hairs that sprang from her pores moments before suddenly shot into the air and surrounded the dwarf in a cloud. They could be extremely irritating to the skin and eyes. If he absorbed too many of them, he'd have trouble breathing and seeing and he would become very sick.

She lunged at him face first. Fangs gleaming, she eyed his throat, intent on ripping it open...

Grimm had partially expected his adversary as he crashed through the door. But he had hardly expected the scream. The dwarf winced at the glass shattering scream and it was in that moment that the black hairs took hold. He only had one eye and it itched something terrible, his armored body not so much.

It may have been the saving grace of the feline, Batosai, that prevented Grimm's death. Hoping that the flying shuriken hit their mark; praying that they delayed the half spider half woman beast, Grimm went into action. He charged toward Sonia, his axe high for a strike, his shield up and his head down just to try and drive the blade on his helmet into her abdomen. Every dwarf seemed to have a death wish it seemed. And Grimm knew that if he fell here, he would have saved the boy, and that mattered. If he died here, his name would be sung by his people for bravery and sacrifice.

The spider's silk attack was not entierly without effect. With speed no normal human would match, a kunai knife was drawn from a thigh pouch and brought up to slice through the middle of the cloud of silk as it came for Batosai. His defense kept him from being completely entangled, however his shakti and one arm were still caught by the sticky substance. It took several seconds for the feline to extricate himself from the mess, expelling Shii'Koh energy from the pores in his skin to essentially burn the silk strands away.

By the time Batosai was free and up again, the spider had put herself firmly in a defensive position in the corner. There would be no effective way to engage her at close range. Fortunately Batosai was capable of effective long-range attacks. Hands and shakti went to work, drawing eight kunai and attaching reels of ultra-thin shinobi wire to the loops on the end of the weapons. The strands of metal had been infused with Shii'Koh energy to enhance their resiliance and strength far beyond what something so thing should be capable of. A smile of irony crossed his muzzle as he contemplated his tactic, using his wires as a form of 'webbing' in their own right to attempt and immobilize the spider in her lair.

It took only a minute to set up, but when he was done, two kunai were poised in each limb. Crouching low to provide a smaller target should the spider use her silk again, Batosai waited for the right moment. There! He believed he'd spotted a momentary hole in her defenses, and acted in an instant. Arms and shakti shot forwards, propelling the kunai and trailing wires forwards. He'd aimed each dart at points in the wall *behind* the spider, and each length of wire was connected to two opposing kunai, trailing across. If he'd aimed true, if he'd judged the lengths of wire right, and *if* the spider could not dodge of deflect the weapons, this attack would effectively trap half her limbs in a tight embrace against her own body!

Suddenly she was trapped to the wall, her limbs pinned back. She writhed and squirmed, trying to wriggle free, but the loss of blood had left her weak. Sonia reared her head back and forth, mouth agape, fangs gleaming. She hissed and howled, shouting profanities and the creature and the dwarf. All the while more and more blood oozed out of her, creating an ever-growing crimson pool on the floor.

Helpless, vulnerable, she watched the dwarf go for Skyler. "Nooooooooooo," she moaned, eyes filling with tears.

The spider didn't even care that she was completely exposed for a killing blow. All she knew was sorrow, because her precious Skyler was being taken away from her.

Batosai barely acknowledged the dwarf, his eyes and senses were locked onto the spider-thing as she struggled against her bonds. For her part, her attention seemed totally focused on the trapped boy, as if holding onto him was far more important than her own life.

None of this mattered to the Hunter.

Keeping his form low and legs tensed for any stray movement, the predator approached the Prey. A flash of white as the bone-spikes slide from his forearms and struck. The wounds would be superficial, shallow, but served to allow the spikes to pump the Hrrakiir venom into the spider-woman. Hrrakiir venom was a potent mix of paralytic neuro-toxin and anasthetic. The victim would be totally immobalized within seconds, but remain fully concious save for the lack of any sense of touch or pain.

Should the venom work, the spider would soon see her last. Batosai moved back out of range should the she break free or the venom fail. His coal-grey eyes moving up to find hers. "This can end quietly, easily."

The Hunter's eyes held no pity, no remorse; but neither did they hold malice. In fact, the eyes of this predator held no more emotion than that of a human hunting a deer for food, "We all have a destiny, a purpose in life. That purpose changes with every day, every choice, every breath we take."

"This is not personal. Your life will end now, for I must sustain mine. All life serves a purpose, and tonight your purpose is to be Prey for the Predator." There was something almost gentle in his tone, "May your next life be more peaceful than this one."

The Predator waited for his Prey to cease her struggling, then he would Feed.

The thievery of her precious Skyler seemed be sliding farther and farther into the realm of immaterial. Her senses slipped away from her. Her limbs went numb an inch at a time, until finally they were dead weights over which she had no control. Soon she was an immobilized lump of flesh. She could still see and hear, but barely. The loss of blood was making it difficult to remain conscious. Then Batosai came forward and stabbed her, and she did not try to retaliate. She was aware of venom coursing through her. Her own body was filled with venom. She injected it into her victims to paralyze them while she devoured them. Unfortunately it did nothing to counteract whatever type Batosai used.

She saw the dwarf pull Skyler down. "Goodbye, my love," she managed to say before her tongue and lips went dead. Then all she could move were her eyeballs. They shifted to Batosai. She barely saw him, but she heard him speaking faintly.

Before she lost consciousness, Sonia managed a defiant grunt of response. "Do what you will. I don't care," is what she meant to say. All she managed, however, was a gurgling slur.

Batosai watched as the spider's struggling finally ceased. She was near to death, and he would have to feed quickly before her energy faded altogether, only now the boy was asking to spare her? Cold, grey eyes looked Skyler over, taking in the humanoid's gaunt features. Finally the predator looked back at the spider and growled, he would have to find other Prey tonight.

With a shake of his mane, Batosai turned away from the spider-creature. "She is too close to death to be of use to me now. Do as you will."

Another annoyed growl and the feline stalked over to the far wall to retrieve his earlier shuriken, leaving the kunai and wire pinning the spider to the wall where they were. If by some miracle the spider managed to survive and recover her strength, at least she would still be bound.