Eldritch Night Read online

  I couldn’t move. I tried to flex my arms and I could feel them respond but something was wrapped tightly around me. It covered almost every inch of my body, I tried to stretch the material, but it had almost no give. I couldn’t even close my fingers. The bindings smelled earthy and pleasant, almost like a new silk shirt.

  I tried to kick and stretch my arms to tear the bindings. The more I struggled the tighter they seemed to hold me. I finally gave up when the bindings began to constrict my chest and I felt myself getting dizzy from exertion and lack of air.

  I couldn’t continue like this. I needed to remain calm and look for opportunities. Whatever had bound my body had left my face free, which was an indication that I was being kept alive for something.

  Probably as leftovers.

  I tried to relax my nerves by closing my eyes and taking three deep breaths. Finished, I opened them to survey the situation. I could only move my head a few inches in either direction but there was still plenty to see.

  The darkness was deeper here; only a faint trace of the blue and green bioluminescent remained. Within the darkness moved long, chitinous limbs, only half seen. It was as if the darkness itself moved underneath me, carrying me forward towards whatever awaited me.

  If I was going to escape, this would be the best time to do it. Whatever was carrying me was much larger than my attacker, so there were more than one. I remembered the creature that had run in front of me, distracting me as another attacked from behind. They were pack hunters.

  It seemed likely I was being brought to meet the rest of the family.

  I needed to try to slip away while I still had the element of surprise. It was likely that these creatures believed me paralyzed by whatever venom I had been injected with. They may not be monitoring me closely.

  My body was useless … but that wasn’t the only tool I had available.

  Status, I thought.

  Information quickly scrolled across a blue, translucent screen that appeared about a foot in front of my face.

  Congratulations! Venom coursed through your veins paralyzing muscle and liquifying flesh. Your body was racked in pain, but you were unable to scream as your lungs were paralyzed and slowly filled with blood.

  Capable of extraordinary feats of Reactive Adaptability Ⓛ, you have survived. Physical resistances +1, new feat(s) gained: Poison resistance © 2/10!

  Reactive Adaptability cooldown … calculating …. 2 days, 47 minutes, 13 seconds.

  Readouts also appeared showing a virtual representation of my body highlighting every injury, from bruised ribs to severe dehydration. My stats were displayed as white bars around the human outline that represented myself.

  The numbers ran from six to ten, perception being the highest and focus being only a pitiful five. I knew my vision and hearing were perfect, so I guessed that ten was a baseline for human ‘average’ or slightly above. If that was the case, then my own numbers were hardly flattering.

  I mean, a five in focus? I could focus on something just as well as the next guy, this was bullshit. Right, I had more pressing concerns. Focus, Finn.

  I looked at “Might,” trying to figure out exactly what it measured when a new screen appeared with that exact information. It seemed that whatever was controlling these menus could read my mind. A useful invasion of privacy, considering the circumstances.

  Might is a measure of the strength and endurance of your physical body. Citizens with more Might can punch harder, jump higher, fight longer, and take more physical damage. As Might improves, your muscle, ligaments, and bone will become stronger and more flexible. You will be able to carry more, do more damage in melee combat, and your speed will be increased in and out of combat.

  That … was impressive. With the way I already felt, a few more points into Might and I really might be able to deadlift a pickup and deflect bullets with my chest. A flashing symbol next to each stat reminded me that I had three unallocated points.

  Would three points in Might be enough for me to break free?

  I quickly scrolled through each of my stats and carefully studied their descriptions, but nothing stood out to me as a sure solution to my problem. I was just beginning to put all three points into Might, when a thought struck me.

  If I can’t think of a solution, maybe I can make myself smarter?

  Intellect is a measure of the power of your mind. Citizens with high Intellect will be able to recall memories for longer and with greater precision as well as solve problems with greater speed. They will learn faster and gain skills earlier. As Intellect improves, citizens will also be more resilient against mental attacks, while also improving the power of arcane magics and the amount of mana they can channel.

  It was between mage and brute, then. Did I trust in the power of my body, or the nimbleness of my mind? Neither was much to brag about.

  My bonds were too strong to even stretch, let alone break. I had little confidence such a small boost to Might would be of help. I had even less faith, however, in my only magical attack. Arcane bolts had been amazingly underwhelming.

  If I couldn’t break my bonds, then I’d simply need to think of another solution. My mind made up, I stopped hesitating and mentally selected Intellect, putting all three points into it.

  Congratulations! You have put three points into a single stat before completing the tutorial!! You have unlocked the feat(s) – Able Learner ®

  Able Learner ® - Having focused on Intellect during the earliest part of your training you find that you are more easily able to pick up new ideas and concepts. Where others struggle to learn new skills, you are adept at it. This feat decreases the difficulty of learning new skills and increases the rate at which you improve Intellect based skills!

  My mind instantly felt clearer, but the change was minimal. No genius solution presented itself in a moment of inspiration, nor did I gain cool psionic powers. It seemed I would still have to figure this out by myself. I let out a sigh of disappointment.

  What was I thinking? This was life or death, not a classroom where I could study every variable and come to the perfect answer. I needed action. I doubted the giant spider-demons would agree to a game of riddles.

  “Don’t panic,” I recalled the words of my father, “take stock of your surroundings, inventory your assets, and formulate a plan. The enemy will make a mistake. wait for it and capitalize on it.”

  The memory came unbidden and felt like it had happened only moments before. Was this my own subconscious, or the effects of increasing my stats? It seemed a violation to let something external have access to something as private as the memories of my father.

  Inventory my assets, but what were they? I was a little more resistant to poison and venom, I had a weak arcane bolt that could barely singe denim. Oh, and I could learn faster … but that advantage had yet to be seen. With some experimentation, I found that I could blink out Morse code, something I would never have been able to remember how to do without the improved memory brought on by increasing Intellect.

  I did the only thing I could … waited and watched.

  The cocoon I was trapped in seemed to be dangling from a single strand anchored to the base of some truly large abomination. I would sway back and forth as the creature walked, occasionally giving me brief glimpses of it through the darkness.

  Its legs, each of them black and hairy, moved with quick precision. We seemed to be slowly moving towards an area of greater light, giving me a better view of the legs that moved beneath me. All twelve of them.

  At the front of the monster, were two legs covered in barbs and ending in long stingers. Behind the monster trailed a long tail, that was segmented and flat. It curved downward and thickened the further it got from the creature’s body.

  After a few more swings I was also able to get a better view of my bindings. They were white and made of millions of overlapping threads, exactly like the cocoons spiders made around their prey. They seemed sticker than before, and with an experimental flex, I realized th
at they had become more elastic.

  Despite the new give, I found the cocoon completely unbreakable. My new power of memory, however, was enough for me to realize that I had not just imagined the inflexibility of the threads when I had first awoken. The silk was becoming stickier and had more stretch. Was it decaying with time?

  Congratulations! You have learned a new skill(s)!

  Analyze ©- While others fight, you watch and listen. You learn mysteries and secrets unknown to others, secrets obvious to those with the ability to see them. Activated: 1 Mana per second, reveals the background, strengths, and weaknesses of objects and creatures.

  The new skill seemed useful, just not immediately so. What I really needed was firepower. What was the use of magic without flashy powers like lightning bolts or fireballs?

  When my cocoon swung back around to give me a view of the underside of the creature’s thorax, I activated the new skill.

  Gwerlum, the Gloomweaver. Arachnid Matriarch. Lvl 24.

  The name was highlighted in purple, but I couldn’t find a way to determine the significance. The level was enough, however, for me to know that I had no chance at all if it came down to combat. It wasn’t a total loss, though, as this did mean that whatever system was behind these skills could feed me information.

  This gave me hope that I could find a way to figure out what was going on. Was I even still on Earth? Why had magic and fantasy creatures suddenly become real?

  My first priority needed to be to survive. Answers could come later.

  Brute strength was out of the question, but if I could analyze the silk binding me perhaps I could find a weakness to exploit. I looked down at my own chest and activated Analyze, and immediately felt a pull on my mana.

  Cocoon of the Gloomweaver — This cocoon was spun by Gwerlum. The silk has a tensile strength greater than steel, but it is the elasticity that truly makes it unbreakable. It is vulnerable to fire, slashing, and magic, but cannot be torn without truly prodigious strength.

  Gwerlum has sprayed this cocoon with her venom, this deteriorates the strength of the silk but helps to digest the prey more quickly and increases the adhesive properties of the silk. This process is unnecessary for common consumption and is only done in preparation for producing an egg sac. It is likely that the prey trapped in this cocoon is intended as food for the spider’s spawn, thereby continuing the unholy lineage of Ungoliant, the Primordial Spider.

  Great, I was breakfast for a bunch of spider tykes. The same venom meant to digest me might just be what saved me. If I could wait for Big Mama to spray the cocoon with more venom, it may weaken enough for me to escape.

  In the meantime, I needed to focus on speeding the process up.

  Over the next few hours, I focused on using my arcane bolts to try to destroy some of the silk around my left hand. My current mana was only enough for me to cast six arcane bolts, but it slowly regenerated enough for me to get off an additional bolt every five minutes or so.

  When the spider queen finally stopped, I had created a pocket of free space around my left arm and had drilled a hole large enough for a single finger to poke through the cocoon. It was a start, I only had to hope that I had enough time to finish.

  Additionally, I had gained 3 levels in Arcane Bolt and Analyze, and a single additional level in Poison Resistance, bringing each to their third level. It seemed that the first three levels of each skill were relatively easy to learn, but I was unable to advance any of the skills to their fourth rank. There was not much to analyze during the trip, but there had been the occasional rock, mushroom or fungus that caught my attention. What was curious, and potentially helpful, was that it seemed each increase in skill gave me something called FP. A counter was kept on the top left corner of my stats screen calling out for my attention.

  I mentally selected FP, and I smiled at the results.

  Chapter Three: A Widow Fled

  My cocoon stopped swaying and the monstrous limbs that carried me slowly stilled. I didn’t pay it much mind, as Big Momma had stopped several times previously. Her smaller offspring would constantly bring her new prey that she would then envelope in thick globs of silk before dousing them in a viscous green liquid she produced from her mouth.

  I imagine I had once experienced similar treatment.

  This time, however, I felt a sense of vertigo and my stomach clenched as it felt like it was being lifted into my throat. I was falling for what seemed minutes but probably only lasted seconds. I felt something cling to my cocoon, my descent slowly ending. For a moment I was still, before I was launched into the air once more.

  The web didn’t let me fly far, it clung to me as I flew upwards before quickly reversing my velocity. I bounced like that several times, before I came to a stop. My insides felt like a shaken can of soda. The world spun as my scattered senses tried to catch up.

  I retched into my mouth, but nothing was available in my long empty stomach. My lips were dry, and my head was ringing as if I was suffering from the after-effects of a three-day bender. I could hear ringing in my ears and my chest rose in uneven heaps as I sucked in ragged breaths. I was obviously dehydrated, but I feared my injuries might be more severe.

  I waited alone in the dark. I don’t know for how long.

  But I wasn’t truly alone. I would feel small vibrations as invisible creatures scurried across the tight web. Loud screeches and the sound of snipping interrupted my thoughts, my imagination filling in every sort of horror imaginable.

  I could not look up. My only view was a wide chasm of unknown depth, the shadows clung to the sheer cliff walls until consuming them entirely in a pool of darkness that stretched on forever.

  By craning my neck upwards, I was able to get a view of the cliff wall closest to me. It was roughly a hundred yards away and looked too smooth and steep for me to climb in my current condition.

  The stone was a deep blue that was unlike any rock formation I had ever seen. The identity of the rock was not an issue, after all I had a skill for that. The real problem was that I couldn’t see the top or the bottom of the cliff, so I had no idea how long such a climb would be.

  I didn’t have long to ponder, as my isolation quickly ended. Gwerlum, The Gloomweaver, also affectionately known to me as Big Momma Spider, was upon me. She grasped my cocoon between her front two legs and began to spin. The spears on the tips of her two forelegs were for the spinning of web rather than the instrument of murder I had imagined them to be. They were like the world's largest, and most deadly, crocheting needles. Perhaps Big Momma was a grandma as well?

  Silk wrapped around my cocoon, though not as tightly as before. She most likely just wanted to make sure I was secured to the web. As a final touch, she left me with a blast of venom to the face. I heard sizzling as my eyes and inner nostrils began to burn.

  I needed to scream, but I forced the impulse down. Instead I dug my fingernails into my palms and clenched my jaw. I could hear the enamel on my teeth cracking as they ground together, but I was able to resist the urge to cry out. I had no idea if the spider believed me dead, but I knew that drawing extra attention to myself would be dangerous.

  Congratulations! New skill(s) gained. Pain Tolerance © (1/10).

  Calculating … Poison Resistance © has improved (4/10).

  I passed out again and when I awoke there was no sign of Big Momma. Barely noticeable vibrations were a constant reminder that I was never truly alone. I imagined her spawn, just out of sight, watching and biding their time.

  When I was finally able to calm down and orient myself to the situation, I turned my attention back to my only unspent resource, Feat Points. If I didn’t have an active goal to work towards, I knew that I would panic and shut down. I could already feel the terror picking away at my sanity bit by bit.

  I concentrated on the translucent screen I conjured with a thought. It was perfectly visible even through eyes half blinded by venom.

  FP available (11)

  6 Feat(s) available for purchase- />
  Newbie (0/1), Cantrips (0/3), Scholar (0/3), Warrior (0/3), Acrobat (0/3)

  The first five feats seemed useful, if basic. I was starting to learn that this system gave you the illusion of choice but hid the true value of each decision behind a knowledge wall. Those with the advantage of system knowledge would know which feats to pick and how best to allocate their stats, while those of us figuring things out for the first time had to rely on blind luck. I would just have to follow my gut.

  The lack of descriptions made each choice a gamble. Despite this, the final feat is the one that really caught my eye. Unlike the others it cost 10 FP, which was almost my entire reserve and for the same cost I could afford almost all the other feats combined. Despite that, it was obviously a higher-level feat and likely held synergy with abilities I already had.

  I opened my stats again, and with a slight smile I put ten points into reactive learning.

  Congratulations! Your Intellect has risen by 2.

  Congratulations! Your Intellect has risen by 2.

  The notifications that happened after spending three and then seven points were welcome, but the final notification brought a grin to my face that might have unnerved even Big Mamma had she been there to see it.

  Reactive Learning ®- Your ability to adapt to your environment was already legendary, but by focusing on your mind over the power of the body you have learned to adapt even the skills of your enemies to your own purposes. This can only be used to replicate skills of up to Uncommon Ⓤ level. Attempting to learn skills above that level will either fail or result in an inferior version of the skill. You must have sufficient time to observe the skill before acquiring it. Having the skill used against you increases the likelihood of learning the skill, as does having a higher Intellect.

  It seemed the feats I already had would influence the new ones that became available to me. If Reactive Learning worked the way that I hoped, I already had a plan to escape. The only thing that gave me pause was the requirement that the skill be used against me. I wanted to escape, I just wasn’t sure how much more punishment I could survive.