The Corelands

Spyder at first had ni idea what to say as she held up a hand, index finger pointed up as the two before the massive spider made it confused as they conversed, clearly unsure of what to do as one felt oddly familar. "Ah aha" Spyder said simply trying to get a grip on the rush of questions. "Possibly, if you .... didnt do that I could possibly calm it." She meant the icicles. Briefly it made her shiver

The massive spider looked between Theri and Spyder, one seemed oddly familar, like its commanding officer in the army or some such crap, the other looked more like food that had a kick to it. What to do, what to do...

"I can try to calm it down.... or rather, her down... uh let me try something here uh..." Spyder moved closer to the icicles and broke a few apart to see the massive spiders face, forcing herself to calm down the black dressed woman. Spyder cleared her throat "Did I disturb your sleep ? You cant eat a fellow spider you know. Especially one like me" Spyder said, Oh dear Light please let this work! If this was Arcadia, it sucked already.

The Spider seemed to be shameful of what it had tried to do and looked shy all of a sudden to in the precense of another much more powerful Spider. It looked to Theri, almost hungry but then not so much. the spider chittered something. Spyder smiled gently almost blushing herself when she turned to Theri "Stiggio apologises for scaring us. specially me. Had he known another Spider was around, one as powerful as me, so he says, He'd have kept quiet"

And then camr the question of if she was related to the much larger spider. She shook her head no "No no, do I look that big ? I mean I can turn into a spider, but not as big as Siggio" Siggio, sounded Italian. He chittered something to her, She looked up at him "What ? Here ?" At the look the spider gave her Spider sighed and magic boiled around her body before both the spider and Theri

What Theri first saw was a beautiful dark haried woman with brown eyes was soon replaced by ther same woman but her hair was different, The top of her head was black, like a crown of sorts, while the rest of her hair was long and light brown. She turned to face Theri, at that pojnt a paid of spider manibles had appeared on her cheeks, like sidburns were she a bearded lady from the circus.

Even then it was clear to see that she was harmless, no sword, she had left it with Mark, when she died. Finally she said "I am confused" As she looked to Theri the mandibles faded "Where am I ?" The last thing she remmebered was getting stabbed in the ass and back with broken wood and steel and dying in a humans arms who said her debt was repaid and it was time to stop fighting Death

At the odd stranger's request, the icicles sublimed into steam, rising into the air with a hiss. The woman began talking to the spider like a cute pet, or perhaps a dear friend, and Theri's jaw dropped slightly as she referred to herself as a spider. Surely this woman had lost it.

The Magi's jaw dropped even further, as she seemed to be successfully calming Siggio. She informed him that she was a powerful spider, but not related to Siggio, who happened to be a girl spider. The two spiders exchanged more words, and the stranger suddenly changed looks and grew spider mandibles. "What....?"

"WHAT!? You're confused?! I"M confused. How do you not know where you are? More importantly, what are you? And why did the spider listen to you? Spiders eat each other all the time! Wait..." Therion backed away slightly from the stranger, raising his wand in preparation. "You're not... You're not a Black Widow, are you? You aren't going to eat me..?" It was a moment before he hesitantly informed her of their location.

"You're uh... You're on Origin. We're on the Rosetta Continent, in the Corelands, slightly North of Hayslem City." Curiosity overtook the boy, and he suddenly found himself ignoring the giant spider. "Why? Where did you think you are, and where did you come from?" Theri crept closer to the strange woman, walking around her and examining her in detail. He even used the end of his wand to move her hair slightly, trying to ensure it wasn't an illusion.

"Nah, humans are too thick in the blood' Spyder said in answer to her eating Theri, she shivered at the mere thought of it. It was even grossing her out! Spyder watched him, she took then motioned to Siggio, allowing the much larger minivan sized spider to amble off, apparently no food was to be had there!

"Yes I am confused." Spyder replied simply "Last thing I remember was getting stabbed in the butt with superheated wood when saving somebody. Next thing I know I wake up here after dying" She said. She gave him a curious look "Black widow ? Whats a blackwidow ?" Was that some kind of spider ?

She shook her head in answer to it "Nope, Not a black widow." She jerked a thumb at herself as she spoke "I am a spider demon, most spiders listen to my orders and the like, others try to aid or avoid me when they can." She said. She stared then, complete silence as Theri circled her, using his wand to move her light brown hair.

When he finally was in front of her again the confusion was even more visible on her face. "You mean this isnt Arcadia ? I'm supposed be dead, blissful eternal reward! I paid my dues perfectly fine!" then his question of what she was from "I'm from.... it doesnt matter, where I came from and where I am supposed to be. What I am supposed to be is dead. On my path to my eternal reward in Arcadia, blissful eternal peace"

Spyder then remembered her manners and stuck out her hand, for all appearances it was harmless, "I am called Spyder, I... I am a spider demoness. I guess I cant go full human anymore here. In Arcadia, from what we demons know ofi t, our natural forms are preferred over our human appearences"

And she just HAD to leave her sword with Mark

The Spider beast, apparently named Stiggio, began to amble away much to Theri's disappointment. The girl explained her last waking moment before arriving here had been being stabbed in the butt with a hot piece of wood, implying it should have killed her. Theri nodded, taking it all in quietly before speaking. The stranger before him introduced herself as a spider demon, and explained that it gave her domain over most spiders. I guess that explains the spider beast ignoring her...

The stranger asked again, where they were, implying that they might be in a strange place called Arcadia. The way she explained, Arcadia was some sort of heavenly after-life, where she should be right now. Admittedly parts of Origin were heavenly, but this place was far from a blissful eternal reward.

"Well, it sounds like you didn't pay you eternal dues quite good enough, because welcome to Origin. Home of the Magus Weather, which creates phenomena such as acid rain, or Firestone Hail." The Magi threw his arms wide, gesturing to the world around them as he spoke.

The stranger finally introduced herself as Spyder, the spider demoness and extended a hand. Theri eyed it for a bit, slightly suspicious, before grabbing it and giving it a few firm shakes. "So you're telling me, a hot piece of wood to the butt transported you somehow to Origin?" Spyder continued to explain she could not go full human anymore, and that her natural appearance wasn't human. "Well... uh... I could try to polymorph you if you want?"

The rain was getting worse, and if past experiences betrayed anything about the way the weather was going, it was going to get ALOT worse before it got any better. "Welp! You're free to follow me back to town, but I can't stay out here any longer. I like my clothes, and would rather not lose them in exchange for some serious acid burns." Therion wasn't convinced Spyder wasn't entirely crazy, and he wasn't keen about staying in the wilderness with her. He was also not entirely certain she wouldn't try to eat him, Astrius had taught that some demons did, in fact, eat humans.

"I paid my dues as they were termed, I owed a Life Debt to a guy, I saved his life by sacrificing myself, he said my debt ewas filled and not to fight off death, next thing I know I'm here" Spyder said in a very rapid dialect that Theri couldnt possibly understand. Then his suggestion hit her, she shook her head 'No no, I'll be alright." She felt the rainfall, it felt warm oddly so, like really hot water. But then Theri explained what it actually was.

Well her clothing didnt show any signs of melting away from the rain but his started to show bits and pieces that his magic could most likely repair if they got too far damaged. His offer of town seemed the most sensible and she nodded "Sounds like a good plan." At least she could make webbing if needed to do so when the need arose, a webb hammock was comfy to the point of possibly too dang comfy

If it wasnt for the fact she couldnt go fully human again, she actually looked rather pretty without the mandibles on her face. Otherwise, the light brown hair and black crownlike bit of hair on the top of her head made her look prettier stillThe black dress was long and looked ragged due to the sheer time she'd worn the thing, yet it was clean, and well kept. a brown leather corset of a sort covered her stomach. Her sleeves were long and taipered at the middle finger perfectly covering her wrists. Her dress was most likely enchanted demon clothing or the like

But that didnt matter, at that moment only thing that mattered was figuring out where she was. She was SUPPOSED to be dead. So maybe she was dead, and on the way to her reward ? Then she remembered "oh no, noo no no no this isnt good..." She felt herself down carefully, her belt, where was the gemstone ?? "Where is it ??" She cast a eldritch design and felt again around her waist, still no belt.

Oh dear

The acid was quickly eating through Theri's clothing, which was bothersome but not really an issue. Spyder, however seemed to be mostly unaffected. Perhaps her clothing... was made of Spider demon silk? The Magi dismissed the thought as readily as it came, it didn't matter in the end, so long as they both got to the City in time.

Spyder assented, and the duo quickly began their trip back to town. The Spider Demon, was... interesting to say the least, and Theri wasn't entirely convinced she was good people. However he hadn't come this far by being cautious, and she was a novelty on this planet.

Novel as she was, suddenly Spyder began to freak out, apparently her egress from wherever, to supposed Arcadia had lost her something, relatively important to her? Therion was curious, but also unwilling to stand in this acid rain any longer than necessary. "Hey, hey we'll sort it out later. I'm probably late for class or something, come on let's get out of here." Hayslem City wasn't much further ahead, they were nearing the edge of the Corelands, and certainly anything she had lost could wait until then.

Astrius Academy was home to a few diviners, perhaps they could find whatever she had lost, or even help tell Theri exactly where she had came from, how, and why. He was more than a little curious, she was acting like she had come from the Abyss itself, though, Most demons do, but she claims otherwise... The magi kept the errant thought to himself, she seemed a little confused, and confused people were the easiest to stir to violence. "If you lost something, perhaps the diviners at Astrius could help? As well as figure out just how you got here..."

Raising a hand, Spyder formed a shired of pale red energy over her and Theri to stop his clothing from melting away. "I cannot wait, though I kmow how to find it without the stone. But if someone were to find Elhazzard and were lured into it without warning..." Elhazzard...

She had said Elhazzard the Arciadian, or Faerie term for Jumanji

And if it was a stone...

At his confused yet concerned look she explained then "A friend of mine and I were lured to it by the sound of drums. Elhazzard is comprised of raw magic, terrifying dreamscapes, and the stuff of nightmares. Diadem and I found it, and she was sucked into it. But she willingly entered it of her own accord. I know how to find Elhazzard in Arcadia, it just took me a few dozen years, but now I know the way so it is easier to get there."

Absently she looked to her left arm, what looked like seven lines appeared in perfect black marks. Damn Spyder thought. Seven lives left. Diadem please hold on, I will find that gem again I promise! She saw then that Theri looked concerned and slightly upset of the damaged clothing. A flick of the wrist and Spyder had conjured some web like a cloak. She held it out to him "Here. Wear this, it will stop the rain from ruining your clothing." She said.

Well, she didnt try to eat him,... yet

Spyder explained that she needed to get to... somewhere awful. A chaotic part of the Faerie, somewhere Traf had mentioned in late-night lectures in long-winded rants about places he'd discovered one way or another. Elhazzard, Jumanji, a place where logic was only slightly sideways. The Spider Demon could get there from Faerie, and needed to get back? Theri pondered the thought, as she handed him a cloak of spider silk.

Well I suppose I did come out here to find some sort of entertainment.

"So remind me again, why you WANT to go there? And where exactly did the, uh, gemstone go!?"

Honestly it sounded right up Therion's alley, it was just the behavior of the odd the random stranger that had him on edge. There was a lot she wasn't saying, which tended to mean he couldn't trust her as far as he could throw her. However... She certainly seemed confident in her ability to navigate the Faerie. Imagine Traf's face when i start lecturing HIM on the fair folk...

Theri drew the cloak about himself, following Spyder carefully, and true to her word the cloak was acid-resistant. "Lead the way, I guess? Are we looking for the stone or going into the Dreaming...?" Astrius would never believe what he found in the Corelands.

Spyder shook her head at his words. "Its not that easy" She said. "You mentioned people who can find things. Diviners you called them ?" She looked thoughtful as they walked towards the city, "If they can locate Elhazzard before it traps another victim within its endless jungles, we can go there, but getting into the Dreaming wont be easy unless we find a trod or Shallowing bridge Once through I can find the path to Elhazzard easily, it is just a matter of locating the gemstone, hiding it again, and then going there through the Dreaming."

Seeing his confused look she asked "What ? You actually want to go through with this ? You really want to go to Elhazzard with me by way of the Dreaming ?" Most mortals cant take it, but some could. She wasnt sure of Theri, if he could make it through a Trod, then maybe it could work out ?

"First thing is first, and you said it yourself, we have to find a diviner, who can locate the relic of Arcadia. Soon as we get it back, I can hide it properly so none else get drawn into it. And then we have to find a Shallowing Bridge, or a Trod to get into the Dreaming..." She trailed off in thought as they walked along.

Finally she turned to him "You seem.... excited for some reason, why ? Was it my mention of Elhazzard, or something else ? Most mortals are freaked out when I talk about the Dreaming or Arcadia, but you... you seem.... more like you belong there actually now that I think about it"

Oracle Watcher has arrived, coming from Aziora City.

Oracle Watcher has left the area, heading south to Hayslem City.

The Ztranger has arrived, coming from Hayslem City.

The Ztranger has left the area, heading west to Aziora City.

Oracle Watcher has arrived, coming from Hayslem City.

Oracle Watcher has left the area, heading west to Aziora City.

Scout Arl has arrived, coming from Hayslem City.

Suddenly, a swirling vortex appears to the down.

Scout Arl has left the area, heading down into 03629bc92ba1167ba8694c6301dc897b.

Scout Arl has arrived, coming from Eldion Village.

Scout Arl has left the area, heading south into Hayslem City.