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Message: <blockquote data-quote="carpedavid" data-source="post: 2817918" data-attributes="member: 6971">I think I'm on a biweekly updating basis now, though this one's going to be on the shorter side.Valley of the Spiders, Part 3"Kakeru!" Fukasu yelled as she jumped back to her feet and climbed into the cart. She quickly checked for a pulse, and finding one, breathed a sigh of relief. "He's alive, but barely. We need to take shelter.""There's a large outcropping up ahead," Musashi said as he pointed toward two stone pillars about a hundred yards farther into the valley, where it took a sharp turn to the west."We'll check it out," Kyoji said as he motioned to Takashi. The two monks began to scout ahead as Fukasu ripped strips from her kimono to bind her cousin's wounds. I'm going to be naked by the time we get to the fire crane, at this rate, Fukasu thought to herself. She giggled, and Musashi looked up with a start.Fukasu smiled wanly, "I'm going to need a new robe soon."The young samurai nodded, then, after a minute, "Is he stable?"The young ninja tightened the last bandage and then sighed, "He should be ok, though he's not going to be very happy when he wakes up."Musashi grabbed Yagi's reins, and slowly led them down the valley to where the two monks were waiting. As they creaked along, he remained vigilant. It would be like those dishonorable vermin to take advantage of us while our forces are split.Just before they passed behind the outcroppings, Musashi looked left and caught a glimpse of the obstacles that still remained in their path. This is not going to get any easier.***A few minutes after midnight, Kakeru awoke with a start. "Wha! Spiders!" he yelled as he sat bolt upright. "Is this Yomi?" he asked, panicked."It might as well be," Takashi mumbled as he rolled over, trying to get comfortable on the rocky ground."Ugh. I obviously need more sake," Kakeru groaned as he lay back down."No, you need rest," Fukasu said as she adjusted his blanket."Okay, Fu-chan," he said grudgingly."Rest well, Kakeru-kun," Musashi whispered, "For we will need your strength tomorrow.""Tomorrow might be a bit early," Kakeru groaned."Well, soon, then," the young samurai replied.The next day, Kakeru spent most of his time summoning the benevolent spirits of the earth to heal himself and his companions. Musashi kept watch while the two monks sparred and Fukasu fussed over her cousin."You're not well, lay down," Fukasu said."I'm fine," Kakeru replied weakly."No, you're not.""Okay, I'm not, but I'm still not lying down.""Kakeru-kun!""Okay, fine."That night, the five heroes rested, preparing themselves for the challenge that lay ahead. As Musashi lay on the hard stone of the valley floor, he envisioned slicing through his enemy, rending limb from body, finding the joints in their exoskeletons, cleaving through their carapaces. He shivered. I'm nervous, he thought, that is unacceptable. He tried to suppress the butterflies in his stomach by clearing his mind and focusing on the task at hand, but after a minute he smiled to himself in the darkness. No, not nervous. Not nervous at all.Excited.***As the sun rose on the 23rd day of Shigatsu, year 337 of the Ito shogunate, the party prepared themselves for the upcoming fight. Kakeru snuck a glimpse of what awaited them and groaned."Ok, Takashi-san," the young shinkan said as he tried to figure out what spirits to call, "since we got the worst of it last time, I'm going to ask the spirits for their aid." He projected his will into the ethereal realm where spirits dwell, and called out for the poison-eaters.Sightless, possessed only of a pair of antennae and very long tongue, and resembling something close to a bright-yellow, foot-long slug, a pair of poison-eaters slithered through the mists toward the group. When they reached the shinkan and the monk, the supernatural gastropods began to climb up their legs toward their abdomens.Kakeru had never seen the poison-eaters do what they were about to do, but he had read about it in the sacred scrolls, and he was very glad that Takashi would not be able to sense what was happening. When the poison-eaters reached their abdomens, they paused for a second, and then quickly jammed their long tongues into Kakeru and Takashi's navels. Within a second, they had squished themselves through the hole that they had created inside the mortals' spirit bodies.The young shinkan shook his head. Takashi looked at him quizzically, but Kakeru just smiled and continued to shake his head.Musashi drew his katana and wakizashi and looked at his companions. "Ready?""Let's do it," Takashi replied.The five heroes from Kurosawa stepped out from behind the giant stone outcropping and began cautiously moving deeper into the valley. The long shadows cast by the morning sun fell over colossal nets of webbing which stretched a hundred feet from one wall of the valley to the other. Thousands of birds and bats flapped and squawked and screeched, having been caught in the nets, and the movement and sound had attracted monstrous spiders by the dozen.</blockquote>

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