One by one the gemstones separated from the wall. Yannuvia followed her instructions explicitly and found his way into the grotto behind the falls. Strange red auras filled and warmed the grotto. A hulking form with eight legs and eight eyes appeared in the center of the grotto. Far uglier than its likeness on the cavern entryway, the creature stared directly at him with its two large red eyeballs and six smaller black eyeballs. Twelve feet tall, the bloated beast sported a barbed tail that dwarfed that of a fully-grown wyvern. Huge warty lumps covered the creature’s body and its gaping maw bared huge fangs. Two appendages were modified to form claws. Yannuvia ineffectively challenged the beast with weapons and spells, unsuccessfully sought escape and spells, accepted his hapless position, and finally conversed with the beast.
The beast disdainfully and fluently said in Drelvish tongue, “It took you long enough to get here. You are not of much account, young sorcerer. I don’t see what the Master sees in you, but I’ll present his gifts as he directed.”
Yannuvia angrily shouted, “No one is my Master. Who are you? What are you? What do you want? Again, if you mean to eat me, get on with it!”
The beast sighed, growled something about getting the worst assignments, and said, “I am Arachnis. I’m not a what! I would like some respect, but otherwise I want nothing. I’m here to give you the Master’s gifts, ingrate! Don’t you realize you’ve already received a boon?”
Yannuvia’s boon was the incantation for a fire spell. The phrases appeared in his mind when he touched the stones that gave him entry to the cavern.
He muttered aloud, “I don’t understand. It’s a spell. It’s…it’s a fire spell. The spell books of my forefathers have no such Magick. How?”
“It’s Magick, fool.
benjamintowe 