Common Clay

When he reached the village that afternoon, Clay was in relatively good cheer. As much as he was still aching, he felt like he was recovering well from the ordeal of downing the elder spider. Doing it another three times was not a pleasant thing to look forward to, but at the very least, it was something that seemed possible. Perhaps the fifth level would give him more tools that would make it that much easier.

His first stop was the tavern, where he saw a handful of the baron’s men were visiting. Herbert was one of them; and the nervous smile vanished from the [Guard]’s face when he saw Clay walk in. The man’s concern turned into half-concealed frustration as Clay smiled and held up two fingers at him. Then Clay spent a few minutes chatting with the tavern owner, paid for a meat pie he hadn’t needed to make himself, and then went on his way.

He paid a visit to Adam, who had a bag of beans for him. Adam also had a few sheets of parchment ready, surprisingly, and was more than happy to exchange them for a few coins. The shopkeeper seemed relieved that Clay didn’t have anything unusual to ask from him, and he was hiding a satisfied grin as Clay ambled out the door.

The shrine was his next stop, and he grinned as he saw Olivia smile slightly. She bowed formally. “Welcome, traveler.”

“Thank you, Novice.” He grinned and held up a few bits of parchment. “I have something for you!”

Olivia blinked. She nodded, though her cheeks turned red for some reason. “I see. Come with me then.”

She led the way back to the library, where the Rector was once again absent. Olivia looked at him expectantly, and Clay handed over the notes. “I am just checking in. I don’t know if you heard anything today in the village…”

Olivia nodded. “Just before lunch, I thought I heard another…noise from the Tanglewood. It was very faint, however. I do not know if anyone else would have noticed it.”

“That was me again.” Clay shrugged. “I just didn’t want you to worry.”

There was an awkward pause, and then he held up the notes in his hand. “Also, I brought you these! Some notes on the elder troll spider, and on a few of the [Chants].”

Olivia’s brow furrowed, and she took the notes from him. Clay tried not to be distracted by the fact that her hand brushed his as she did so. “I see. Thank you.” She started reading and shook her head. “Once again, you must practice your penmanship. These are awful.”

Clay grinned. “Sorry. I’ve just been practicing other things, I suppose.”

She frowned at him. “Acceptable, I suppose.” There was a quirk of her lips that might have suggested a smile, but then she turned her attention back to the pages. “You have been fighting these…elder troll spiders? There was not very much information on them in the manual.”

“I’ve given the details I’ve discovered.” Clay gestured to the parchment. “At the very least, the next adventurer that happens by will have better information. They won’t have to find out things the hard way.”

“How considerate of you.” Olivia’s lips twitched again, but then she suddenly bent low over the pages. “You used Firm Step to do what?”

Clay laughed and sat down at the desk. Olivia sank down next to him, her attention glued to the notes. “I thought you’d want to hear about that. Turns out even some of these minor [Chants] can be more useful than I expected.”

She didn’t respond, and he waited in a comfortable silence while her eyes ran over the page. Eventually, though, he started to stand.

Her hand shot out and locked onto his forearm. When he looked up in surprise, Olivia was glaring at him. “I’m not finished yet. Wait.”

Somehow, disobeying that command seemed even more foolish than charging an elder spider. Clay bit his lip and settled back to wait. Olivia went back to reading, her hand still locked onto his arm, as if to make sure he stayed put.

He grinned. Maybe being a [Commoner] wasn’t such a terrible life after all.

It was near sunset by the time he made it back to the farmhouse. Olivia had insisted on reading through his notes, and then forcing him to recount them again and again, so that she could transcribe them. After that, she’d started going through the [Chants] he could use, trying to come up with alternate ways of using them. By the time he’d pried himself loose, he had a full three pages of assigned experiments to run, and he had left her there, still scribbling away as she recorded her ideas for more. He was mostly just glad she’d allowed him to go home at all.

Still, it had been a good day. He made his way up the small path, headed for the doorway. When he pushed it open, he set down his bags and the notes that Olivia had given him before he saw the note on the table. It was resting beside a wrapped piece of bread on a plate.

Clay picked up the small scrap of parchment and recognized his mother’s handwriting. Apparently she had visited, but not found him home. He made a mental note to make the journey over to his family’s home when he had the chance.

He unwrapped the bread and breathed in the warm smell of it for a moment. It brought back so many memories, and he smiled about it for a moment.

Then his stomach growled, and Clay decided it was past time for him to find out if the taste brought back memories as well. He’d missed dinner, after all, and he had plenty of work to do tomorrow.

Late the next afternoon, Clay waved at his father as he walked up the road. He’d already worked for nearly the entire morning on the fields. Then he had made a brief visit to Scout’s Hill, mostly just to observe the spiders’ reaction to the death of another elder spider. They were predictably agitated, but he hadn’t noticed anything other than a shift in their patrols and a certain increase in hostility from the way they moved. Either way, he had no plans on attacking again that day, so he headed over to visit his parents.

So he’d gone back to his family home, by way of a brief hunting trip through the Smallgroves. He carried a handful of squirrel carcasses on his back, ready for skinning and cooking. He didn’t know if his dad would consider it a good visiting present, but Clay did hope that it would give his mother evidence that he could, in fact, eat food when he wasn’t actually in front of her.

Saphy pointed him out from where she had been carrying water from the well, and Amy went running inside the house. He saw Will stick his head out from the barn and waved at him. His brother waved back and then ducked back inside. Apparently, they had been waiting for him.

Sam met him before he’d reached the house. “Good to see you, son! Coming by for a visit?”

“Yeah, I guess I missed Mom yesterday.”

“So she said! You weren’t tending to the fields we plowed?” There was a bit of an edge to Sam’s voice, and Clay winced.

“I’d gone to town to buy a few things. She must have come by before I came back.” He lifted the squirrels he carried, as if they were a peace offering. “I picked up some meat to share on my way over. Think you guys could put them to use?”

“I think we could probably have someone help mother do just that.” Sam glanced at Saphy, who tried to hide a little too late. “Saphy, come take these from your brother and clean them. You seem to have way too much time on your hands anyway, this morning.”

Saphy made a face, but she knew better than to talk back. She got down off of the fence and sulked her way over. Clay handed over the squirrels, and she stuck her tongue out at him. “Off hunting squirrels when you should be plowing?”

“Hey, let me know when you want to come help pick stones out!” She stuck her tongue out again and ran back up the road. Sam chuckled as he watched her go.

“She’s been missing you a little lately. We all have.” Sam eyed him a little. “Though I’d say the independence has done you good. You’ve certainly seemed a lot stronger.”

Suddenly conscious of his higher [Stats], Clay smiled carefully. “Thanks, Dad. I’m just trying to keep up with your example.”

Sam snorted. “You’ve got quite a ways to go, then!” He glanced out over the fields with a faint air of pride about him. Then Amy came barreling out of the house with Amelia on her heels. His father nudged him a bit. “Here comes trouble. Good luck.”

His father peeled off and hopped the fence before Clay could respond, but he still managed to give Sam a quick glare. Then he turned as Amy sprinted at him, arms outstretched for the running hug. “Well, who’s this? I could have sworn I had a little sister, not a giant one!”

Amy giggled as she launched herself at him. He caught her up and turned her about a bit. She laughed and screamed a little when he tickled her. Then she was off again, running back past her mother on her way to the house.

Amelia stepped aside to let her past, and then continued on towards him. Clay saw concern on her face, and he tried not to grow worried himself. “So I guess we missed each other yesterday! I hadn’t made it back from town when you came and left.”

She relaxed a little, her eyes going to Sam’s retreating back for a moment. “Oh. So that’s where you were.” Amelia gave him a quick hug, before pulling back to inspect him. “I’d just heard a few things from the town the day before. Something about strange sounds from the Tanglewood. Some people said the monsters were wandering outside the forest. It made me worried.”

Clay tried to keep his voice even. “Well, you shouldn’t believe everything you hear. The baron sent one of his men out to check on me, so he’s keeping track of what’s going on with me.”

“Well, that’s nice.” The tone of her voice suggested that Amelia Evergreen would have preferred that the baron would have put him somewhere not at risk of a monster attack, but Clay just wanted to steer the conversation away from that entirely. If she didn’t like him living near monsters, if she knew what he was actually doing…

“In any case, I don’t think anyone’s heard anything from the woods in a while, and I think the baron’s sent for some adventurers to come and take care of it. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Amelia gave him a steady look. “I see. Did the baron’s man tell you that?” When Clay nodded, she smiled. “Well, that should take care of everything, then. You just stay out of trouble, okay?”

Clay rolled his eyes as they walked together back along the path. “I’ll do my best, mom. No promises, though.”

She swatted at his arm. “Oh, stop it.” Then her expression grew a little mischievous. “So who were you visiting in Pellsglade? Certainly not a particular novice at the shrine?”

He felt his face grow heated. “I…did spend some time with Olivia. We were reading some books.”

“I’m sure.” That knowing tone was entirely too irritating. “Well, you can always tell me all about it. You’re staying for dinner, right?”

Clay suddenly wondered if he would have made a better choice fighting spiders. “Of course.” She smiled, and they walked back to the house together.

The meal with his family was a rare moment of peace and tranquility, though parts of it were still somewhat uncomfortable. His mother had filled the meal with far too many hints and questions about Olivia. Even his father had gotten into things, though Will and Saphy had mostly just looked sullen. Amy and Finn were both too young to really pick up on anything; his youngest sister mostly just wanted to know when she’d be able to visit his house again. It had been a relief to excuse himself at the end of the meal and head home.

He would still think back on it, however, as he continued his real work at home.

Over the next nine days, he fell into a regular pattern. Once again, he tried to spend his mornings on regular chores. Meals were cooked, animals were hunted or trapped, and as always, the fields needed to be plowed. He ate a midday meal, and then set out for the valley, where the spiders were still lurking. Some days, he spent mostly observing and hunting the adult spiders in their nests and perches.

Others he spent going after much larger prey.

The day after he visited his family, he downed another elder spider in another grove, south of the Lair. Two days later, another died after he worked his way to the east of the tower, catching another as it hunted alone. Neither of them managed to do more than crash when he used Firm Step to pull them shrieking from the sky.

The third spider, which he ambushed three days after the second, somehow avoided crashing against the boulder he’d tried to pull it into. As a result, the giant thing only broke half its legs, which forced Clay to close with it. He threw his spear into its face, and then charged with his axe as it was scrabbling at the weapon with its remaining forelimb. A half dozen chops brought it low, and he finished it before it could manage a second scream.

It was then that he finally saw the notification that he’d been hoping for.

{Elder Troll Spider slain! Soul increases by 60}

{Commoner reaches Level 5!}

{Maximum level for all Stats is now 20!}

{Experience gained (Defiant: Gain 20% bonus to all skills when facing an opponent of a higher level.)}

{Experience gained (Smallmage: Can chant minor Chants 10% faster. Gain 20% effectiveness for minor Chants.)}

It almost made the ache spreading through his chest worth it. He grinned at the description for [Smallmage]; he could already guess how Olivia was going to react to the possibilities for that [Experience]. At the very least, both it and [Defiant] were going to make hunting the rest of the elder spiders easy.

All the same, however, he likely needed to check in again with the others in town. Besides, the other elders that were already starting to glide closer. His last kill had taken too long, and he hadn’t figured out how he was going to face more than one creature at a time. At least not yet.

So he went home, escaping across Scout’s Hill before the enemy closed in. Tomorrow would be a new day, and he’d be able to get that much closer to killing the Lair entirely. All he had to do was keep to the work, and nothing would stop him.

The next day, Clay wondered if the gods had somehow heard his thoughts and decided to spurn him. If they had, he would have liked the chance to curse them to their face.

He’d spent the morning as usual, tending to his farm and enjoying the feeling of moving through the usual chores. After the viciousness of combat against the monsters, it was a relief to just focus on taking care of the land and preparing it to grow things.

All the same, he felt a growing anticipation for the hunt that day. With his level increased and the new [Experiences] he’d gained, he hoped it would prove even more easy to track down and destroy the elder spiders. Perhaps he’d even observe the elder mantraps; eventually he’d have to track them down and kill them too, after all, especially if he intended to go after the Lair itself.

Yet when Clay took his first steps into the Tanglewood, just after cooking his midday meal, he immediately noticed that something was different. Suddenly wary, he proceeded a bit more carefully towards Scout’s Hill, his eyes open for an ambush. He didn’t know if he’d finally attracted enough attention for the elder spiders to start tracking him down, but it was better to be careful than to end up eaten.

He found something far, far different, however.

The spiderlings were back, in numbers that almost defied the last time they had swarmed over the woods. Whatever frenzy had consumed them before had returned in full force, and Clay was suddenly bogged down in the task of killing them off in job lots. With the cumulative bonuses available to him, it was like squashing literal bugs, but the sheer numbers threatened to overwhelm him, even without the presence of the more mature forms.

It took him an hour to give up on reaching Scout’s Hill. There were simply too many spiderlings crawling all over the Tanglewood, and no matter how many corpses he left, it seemed like there were always more waiting behind the next branch or scuttling along the forest floor. Where were they all coming from? How had they managed to gather such a swarm without him noticing?

He spent the entire afternoon killing spiderlings, as well as the occasional adult spider. They came at him both singly and in small groups, often looking for the corpses of their fellow monsters that he was leaving in his wake. By the time he turned back towards the farmhouse, he had killed dozens of them, but there seemed like there was no end to the things.

The next day was almost exactly the same. Clay resisted the urge to leave his farm untended, spending several tense hours maintaining his equipment and keeping the fields clear. Then, after he ate, he once again went back into the Tanglewood, and again found it a scene of swarming, frenzied spiderlings. Six hours later, he retreated once again, leaving even more spiderling corpses behind for the survivors to devour. Where had they all come from?

It happened again on the third day, and again on the fourth, and the only benefit he saw from it was an increase in [Will]. By the time he staggered home on the fifth day, having just barely made it to the foot of Scout’s Hill, he felt as if the flood of monsters might never end. There had to be a reason for it, but he couldn’t figure it out for the life of him. How many more of these underlings would he need to kill for him to be finished with them?

He was so tired he got halfway to the house before he realized that Herbert’s horse was once again outside. Clay groaned to himself and staggered over to the door. For a moment, he debated kicking it in, but decided against it. The [Guard] was supposedly helping him, after all.

So instead, Clay pushed the door open and growled. “You know, I’m thinking of getting a lock—”

He paused, his weary mind registering the fact that Herbert was not alone. The [Guard] did grin at him. “That might be a pretty good idea, but it might hurt my feelings. Hers too, maybe.”

Olivia rose smoothly from the chair, her face carefully neutral. “You had not visited in some time. I grew… concerned.”

Clay stared dully at her. Then he sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s just been… interesting lately.” He looked back and forth between them. “I didn’t know that you two knew each other.”

Herbert and Olivia looked at each other. Their expressions grew amusingly guarded. The [Guard] was the first to speak. “We don’t, exactly. I was just riding this way and came across the young lass. I thought it would be fine if I offered her a ride.”

She nodded. “And I was hoping that if something was wrong, he might be able to help you. With any injuries you suffered on the farm.”

Clay put a hand over his eyes. “Oh, for the love of… you both know already. Herbert stitched me up after I fought one of the spiders, and Olivia’s been helping me learn magic. Just…I can’t do this today.”

They exchanged another look, this time one of shock and surprise. Then Herbert snorted. “Well, that is not the magic I thought was happening out here.”

Olivia’s face turned bright red. “Clay, you did learn how to light things on fire, didn’t you?”

“Not today, please. I’ve just spent the afternoon killing far too many monsters.” Clay hobbled over to the bedroll and started setting his equipment down. “Herbert, the baron isn’t planning on visiting the Tanglewood anytime soon, is he?”

Herbert frowned. “I don’t know. He might be; he usually tries to stop by every so often.”

“Keep him out of there. The spiders are in some kind of feeding frenzy again.” He examined the edge of his axe before he dropped it and sighed. It needed sharpening again, already. At this rate, he was going to wear the thing down to a stick in no time. “If he tries a patrol right now, they’ll probably eat him alive.”

The [Guard]’s face grew serious. “It’s that bad? I thought you had it under control.”

“I did, for a while.” Clay shook his head slowly. “It’s like… they have this occasional rush of numbers. One day there’s only a few handfuls around, and the next it’s like an army of them move in. I can’t explain it.”

Olivia’s face was composed, but she slowly sat back down, her eyes worried. “Has it been this bad before? You mentioned this was happening ‘again’.”

Clay looked over at her and tried not to sound so tired. “Yeah, once before. Back when you caught me, Herbert. How long ago was that?”

“About four weeks now.”

He nodded. “And it started about a week before that.”

“So around five weeks.” Olivia sat back in the chair, her eyes going distant. “There are some species of spider that lay hundreds, thousands of eggs at a time. In some of them, the eggs hatch in about five weeks.”

There was a silence, and then Clay groaned. “So you’re saying that the Lair is putting these things out every five weeks?”

“Quite possibly, yes.” Olivia’s eyes went back to him now. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah, I think so. It’s just a lot of work, and it’s keeping me from getting any further in. I haven’t been able to get to any more of the big ones.” He shook his head. “I was making good progress, too. I just don’t understand why it’s so much worse this time than last time.”

Herbert was shaking his head. He sat down on the small pile of wood that Clay had stacked up to be fed into the fireplace. “Thousands? You’re telling me that thousands of monsters are getting ready to attack the town?”

Clay shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.” They both looked at him, and he shrugged. “The things have a habit of eating each other. The big ones actually seem to really like eating the small ones, so that’s probably kept the population from growing too quickly. Otherwise, they’d have been in town years ago.”

“That may explain the increase in severity as well, Clay.” He looked at Olivia, and she sighed. “You’ve been killing enough of the older spiders that they are no longer eating as many of the spiderlings. So the new spiders are spreading out far more than they did before.”

Herbert muttered something under his breath, and Clay scrubbed his hands over his face. She was right; it also explained why he hadn’t seen nearly as many of the adults in the frenzy this time. The ones that were left were probably eating plenty of the spiderlings further in, past Scout’s Hill. They wouldn’t be showing up until later, when the available targets had decreased enough.

“Should we warn the baron?” They both looked at Herbert, and the [Guard] shrugged. “Look, I said I would keep your secret, but I will not put the baron and the town at risk. If a wave of the things are going to come out of the forest at any moment, they need to know.”

Clay thought about it for a moment, his mind going back over the war in the forest. “The spiderlings are still fighting amongst each other, so I don’t think we’re at risk of an outbreak. At least, not yet. I’m killing enough of them that they are already starting to slow down, too, so maybe it should go back to a bit more normal in a couple more days.”

The [Guard] snorted. “Oh really? How many thousands of spiders are you out there squashing?”

“I think I’m killing a few dozen a day. I haven’t been keeping track, though.” Clay looked away from the astonished [Guard] and back at Olivia. She seemed a little surprised as well, but he didn’t give her the chance to answer. “Do the new monsters spawn from the Curse in the Lair itself? Or do the elder spiders lay those eggs you were talking about?”

She hesitated. “No. The books haven’t mentioned anything about where the new monsters come from, and it might vary by the kind of Curse involved. Did you notice the elder spiders growing less active? Hiding away somewhere?”

Clay snorted. “No, they were definitely just as active.”

“I doubt they were laying the eggs, then.” Then she paused again. “Some books do mention the existence of a Guardian of sorts, something that stays close by the Curse in the middle of the Lair or the center of a Dungeon. It could be that they are the creatures that lay each clutch of new eggs.”

“So to stop them, I’d pretty much have to be inside the Lair itself.”

Herbert burst out laughing. He leaned forward, putting his face in his hands. “Do you honestly think you’re going to get that far? This is insane!”

Clay looked at him. “Well, you’re welcome to join me if you want. Either way, the things need to be driven back. If not, well, they would still be coming. Not as quickly, maybe, but they’d be coming all the same.”

“I know.” He looked back to see Olivia watching him, her expression determined. “Is there anything that we can do to help?”

He thought for a moment and then shook his head. “No. I think I have the weapons I need now, though that might change once I can get past this fresh batch of spiderlings. Outside of that, keep your eyes open for any sign of the [Chant] I can use to end this thing. The sooner I get a shot at destroying the Lair, the sooner it all stops.”

The [Guard] watched them, his face falling into an expression that could be summarized as numb horror. “You’re really serious about this. You’re going to try to do it all on your own? Even adventurers don’t stop monster infestations all by themselves!”

“I’m a [Commoner], not an adventurer.” Then Clay smiled. “I might not be able to finish it on my own, but maybe I can clear the way for the ones who come along later. If I get the chance, though? I’m not going to miss out just because I wasn’t the one they were expecting to solve things.”

Herbert stared at him for a little longer. Then he looked away, muttering something under his breath. Clay looked back at Olivia, and she nodded. “I will keep my eyes open. Visit when you can.” She paused, her expression suddenly conflicted. “And please, be careful.”

“I’ll try.” He forced a smile. “I’ve gotten pretty good at this, though. I think I’ll manage.”

The reactions on both of their faces said volumes, but despite their skepticism, he made a promise to himself. He’d end this latest wave of monsters, and then he’d push forward. No more waiting. Before the next batch of monsters spawned, he’d do his best to destroy the Lair they were coming from. One way or the other, by the time the month was done, he wanted that place burned to the ground.

He just hoped he’d have the chance to make it happen before one of the things got to him.