Chapter 67: 67: Web Spinner

To Danika's surprise they weren't setting off to some secret spider cave or combing the mulberry covered slopes in their spider hunt. Their party distribution also turned out to be pretty much irrelevant, because the large golden orb spiders were town dwellers.

Whether it was because the lights in the fairy trees attracted more bugs, or because the weather in the fairy dell was artificially milder, the weaver's spiders were like unofficial residents of Windbur. Once she got over her fear of the plump spiders who were each big enough to be a full armful for her, Danika had the advantage over the others. She could fly to catch the ones in the treetops, and follow the spiders into more of the narrow places that they fled to.

She would use her stealth with her invisibility to approach silently, and pounce on a spider's back, wrapping her arms around it so that it couldn't turn and bite her, and then carry the spider back to the weaver. There the spiders were loaded into a strange and complicated device that held them caged as they were spun while the device wove six strands of spider silk into a thread and onto a spindle as it turned.

Quin and SaltySiamese were the best at spotting the spiders with their keen elven vision. MatchlessMinion was their second best spider catcher, mostly because he wasn't afraid of them, but also because his thick fur was so dense that the spiders had trouble biting him if they did evade his first grab.

Terri was the first person to log off for the night. Her paladin wasn't suited to catching spiders, although she and Justin might have been the top performers if they'd been trying to kill instead of catch them. Justin used his Subdue spell and a Slow spell that seemed to have similar effects to ZipZing's breath attacks to aid MatchlessMinion, but like Danika, he had to stop and eat often to replenish his energy from the constant casting. 

Danika asked Justin, "Shouldn't you have a much larger energy capacity than I do?"

Justin nodded, but replied calmly, "The recharge rate doesn't increase though, so when I'm out of energy we're on equal footing."

Quin was the next to log off for the night, saying, "I've got a busy day tomorrow. There's no time limit, so don't stay up too late!"

Danika asked SaltySiamese when she had deposited her latest capture, "Don't you and MatchlessMinion need to go soon as well?"

MatchlessMinion carried another spider into the weavery in time to hear the question and told her, "I've got all my homework done. We can stay up and work on this as long as you need us to."

His spider filled the machine up to another half dozen and the little fairy weaver started the contraption spinning. 

Danika checked her bio screen and looked at the time before replying, "Actually, I'm trying to keep a better sleep schedule, so I should probably quit in about another quarter of an hour."

SaltySiamese laughed and said, "Then stop talking and catch faster! You two can fill this thing once more within 15 minutes! Go my minions!" 

MatchlessMinion rolled his eyes at his sister and said, "Then you'd better get out there and spot six more spiders for us!" 

SaltySiamese didn't fuss or try to shirk the duty. She led them all back out into the fairy town and soon located another few targets. They caught all six spiders needed to refill the web spinning thread machine before Danika's alarm popped up its notice. They'd caught a total of 140 spiders, which meant that each team collected 360 coin for the day's labor.

Justin commented, "This isn't a bad quest, but it's not really paying much compared to the time it takes."

MatchlessMinion shrugged and replied, "Most of us aren't very suited to spider catching. You don't have to do it again tomorrow if you don't feel like it." 

"Hey," SaltySiamese protested, "Justin helped you catch more than I did."

Justin shrugged and replied, "I think we both played about equal support roles. Don't worry about it. I won't have much time to help tomorrow though."

"Isn't this fabric incredibly expensive if each of the threads used costs 30 coin just for the spiders?" Danika questioned.

MatchlessMinion fluffed out his bright yellow cloak and said, "Yeah, but it's awesome! It's stronger than kevlar! It's what my cloak is made from."

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SaltySiamese snickered and corrected, "You mean that's what your loin cloth is made from!" Danika looked at her questioningly, and SaltySiamese added, "Don't let him tell you that's a cloak ZipZing! We got it as part of the reward from a Minotaur's quest, and it says it's a loin cloth!" She laughed uproariously.

Justin grinned and MatchlessMinion protested, "It doesn't matter what its label says, it lets me wear it as a cloak, and it's still awesome!" 

Danika winked at MatchlessMinion and agreed, "Practical use is definitely more important than labels, don't worry." She held out her arm with her storage ring around her wrist and said, "This says it's a ring, even though it lets me wear it as a bracelet or an arm band."

MatchlessMinion held up his little hand in an oddly dramatic pose. After a moment he complained, "Don't just leave me standing, give me five ZipZing!"

Danika laughed and zipped forward to tap her little clawed hand against his. 

"I'm going to log off," Justin announced. 

"Wait," protested SaltySiamese, "re-add me to your party first?" Justin raised an eyebrow at her but a moment later SaltySiamese left the party that Aishin had started. She turned to ZipZing and said quickly, "I'll still help more tomorrow though!" 

"It's ok," Danika replied with a smile. 

"Hey, if Salty is coming back to this one, add me to yours ZipZing!" MatchlessMinion insisted suddenly. He looked at his sister and added defensively, "Then Ranma can join you guys when he finishes his Noble Steed quest." 

"Hmph," SaltySiamese huffed derisively, "like you care about him. You'd just rather play with ZipZing and Shrubbery than your own sister." She stuck her tongue out at her little brother.

MatchlessMinion replied smugly, "Duh?" 

Justin said quickly, "I'm out. G'night," and logged off. 

Danika looked at SaltySiamese uncertainly and the elf tossed her chocolate tipped cream hair, flapped her hand at ZipZing, and declared, "Add him!" She winked and added, "And then work him to death! He asked for it!" 

MatchlessMinion made a rude gesture toward his sister but agreed, "Add me! I'll work hard!" 

Danika laughed and sent MatchlessMinion an invite which he accepted instantly. "I should really go sleep now though," she said wryly. 

"Ok, see you tomorrow!" MatchlessMinion replied cheerfully.

"Goodnight!" SaltySiamese shouted and logged out first. MatchlessMinion winked at Danika and logged out a moment later.

Danika smiled. She glanced at the golden spiders spinning in the weaver's device and told the NPC weaver politely, "We'll return to seek more spiders in about three days." 

The fairy smiled at her and replied, "I'll release all the spiders who've been emptied of their silk tonight, and they will create more. There's no end to the amount of spider silk that I can use, and no hurry. Rest well." 

Danika smiled and followed the sibling's example. She logged off and checked that her alarm was set for the morning. When she was on the edge of sleep she thought of Aishin and the way he could grab her out of the air, and smiled again. He'd probably be very good at catching golden orb spiders too.

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