The corridors Mageon echoed as Pohc skittered through them. He was currently trying to improve his [Imitation] Skill by mimicking the dungeon's one and only spider. Pelt turned a deep black and body bent low to make his long legs more visible. His ears were almost longer than his body and by rolling them and moving them in certain patterns he created the illusion of them being actual legs with joints and bones. It was hard to keep his balance while doing the spider-walk but imitating the Visvargs gait had been a challenge as well. Now he had no trouble acting as a mini version of the Visvarg, perfectly mirroring every movement.

But while a wolf and a hare share some biological traits, like the number of legs and fur, a spider was far more different. The number of eyes for one. The spider had a grand total of 8 eyes and unlike Pohc's yellow eyes they were a deep red. No matter how much he tried he couldn't change the eye color. He could change small spots of fur to look like fake eyes though they didn't hold the same detail and depth as the real ones. It was good enough as long as people didn't look too hard.

The number of legs was a problem as well but only if one took the time to count. Sure, something would look off about the small fake-spider, but his Skill would divert the watcher's attention enough to hide it for some time.

Walking on his toes made his nails click in almost the same way as the spider's chitin covered leg tips. It was all about timing. Get the pattern right. Train the pattern enough to make it as easy as breathing. Observe, imitate, train. He spent some time skittering around, scaring some of his brethren who thought he was a new dangerous spider. Satisfied, the hare changed his body again.

His fur turned a dark gray with the faintest hint of green in some places. His ears curled up tightly into small nubby horns and his paws turned white. He stretched his paws to find the right position and angles for his hidden joints to bend and lock to make them look bigger and more like hooves. Lastly, he changed the color of his eyelids into a deep red. Keeping his eyes down and half closed would hide enough of the yellow and show enough of the red to fool anyone who wasn't looking for flaws.

The fake-Bansheep then trotted into a nearby cave where the not-fake-Bansheep were currently grazing. He got some strange looks at first but after a while, the goats came to the conclusion that he was just a kid that had strayed a bit to explore. The fake-Bansheep kid then grazed with them for awhile before taking off on another exploration. 'Kids are so curious' the others chuckled as it bounded away and slowly snuck into a small tunnel.

A great success. Pohc's Bansheep imitation was enough to fool the other Bansheep. He wasn't foolish enough to test his luck against them though. If he got found out the others would surely stomp him into mush and then happily munch on the Bloodclovers that would bloom from his corpse. Those goats were far too temperamental to mess with too much. Mingling with them for short amounts of time was fine though, especially since it let him feed on those tasty plants without having to fight his kin over it.

A faint light from a cave further down the tunnel drew the Dreadhare's attention. He snuck over and peeked inside.

The human, Mikvel was sitting cross-legged with his back against the wall. He frowned in concentration as he moved his hands around, pointing and directing the maelstrom of threads that floated in the air all around the cave. Sam sat at another corner of the cave, spider body working on a sheet of fabric while the human part was stitching an unevenly colored thread into it. A crudely carved bowl sat next to him filled up with mashed up yellow flowers, presumably the material used as a dye.

Pohc watched in awe as the threads moved, spun and tangled themselves in the air. The human was creating a... ball? The tangled mess at the center of the cave could only be described as a ball of threads, and even that was generous.

Mikvel's frown deepened as he worked and them without warning he shouted a short command and spread his arms wide in a quick fluid motion. Something invisible pulled at parts of the ball and suddenly the ball had 8 legs that almost looked like spider legs. They were a bit too floppy still but new threads quickly spun around them to add to the mass and compress into more solid shapes.

Pohc watched for about an hour before he got bored and left. Maybe Fanv was doing something fun?

Fanv was in her 'human' form and in one of the caves near her lair. Maker's core was there as well, listening to the Visvarg's explanations and worries.

"I have no memory of what I did that night..."

You mated with something. Mated a lot.

"So you say but... I honestly don't remember a thing. Didn't feel any different when I woke up either. Aren't you supposed to at least feel sore after... you know?"

I do not know. I do not mate. I could probably mold my core enough to be able to try but I would not produce any offspring so what would be the point.

"Ah, that's right... They say it's supposed to feel really good. At least for humans. I don't know since I haven't..."

Oh, I did not know that. Maybe I should consider trying it in the future then.

"Uh, wait no. That's not what I meant..."

I wonder who would be a good first partner?

"Maker, please... Can we return to discussing my problem?"

As you wish. I still do not understand what you are worried about?

"I'm worried about going on another sex-spree! And what if I eat Mikvel or something?! I've no idea what I'd do while mad."

That is true, I like Mikvel and I assume you do not want to eat him. I shall stop you if you try to eat him. Though controlling you while you are affected by the moon is hard.

"How is it hard? Don't you have like mind-control powers?"

I do. But I also feel what all my creatures feel. When your head goes fuzzy and strange so does mine. It clouds my judgment.

"Wait, so you'll go mad too?!"

Not really, as long as I do not interact with your mind too much it will not affect me. But using my 'mind-control-powers' requires me to interact with it.

"So it's a no go huh..."

'What about Maker making a pit and putting you in it during the full moon, Great one?'

Fanv jumped in surprise.

"Ah, hello Pohc. I didn't see you coming. A pit might work. It'd need to be a very deep pit though..."

That could be troublesome... Changing the slope to trap you in it would take too much time. You would get out.

"Why a slope?"

Without a slope to get you down into the pit you would break your bones upon falling into it.

"Ah... How about a cage? With a lockable door?"

I have never made neither a door nor a lock but I can try if you give me something to use as a reference.

"And only place to get a lock and a door is a village... I'm not exactly the favorite person in Ogon right now. Traveling to Pirn wouldn't work either. They're far to vary of other races down there. I sort of look like an Oni. I'm tall and kinda buff and I got the horns... Not a lot of people around these parts have even seen an Oni before, they live too far up north."

'So if you pretend to be an Oni, you can interact with humans?'

"Not really. Oni are seen as very violent and hard to handle. People wouldn't be very friendly towards them. Perhaps people would be more ok with it in Pontro or Klepper? Pontro is a military city and Klepper is known as the City of Adventurers. Both would get me killed in seconds if people saw me as a threat though..."

So Ogon is the safest bet?

"I guess... I could bring Mikvel and hopefully, people wouldn't freak out completely."

'This door seems to need a lot of work...'

"Yeah... And the full moon is in a couple of days... Perhaps we could just, sneak into the village and, uh, steal a door?"

Will not stealing a door make the villagers hostile towards us? Stealing is bad according to humans, right?

"Aaaargh, too many problems!"

Pohc thought long and hard about his ruler's plight. Then it hit him.

'Can't Sam and Mikvel just tie you up? Sam's threads are strong enough to stop a charging Deear after all.'

"Oh! Why didn't I think of that?"

Turns out Sam's threads was indeed strong enough to keep a Visvarg completely immobilized. Freeing said Visvarg from her web-cocoon turned out to be very hard. When Fanv finally got free from the sticky mess, Pohc and Mikvel had somehow ended up trapped in her place after trying to help her out. It was well into the night before everyone got free and the webs got cleaned up. The imps Ifrit and Terra both helped incinerate the remaining sticky mess while singing and giggling in glee at the dancing flames.

The dungeon entrance was finally starting to look like the mighty and ancient ruins Maker intended them to be. The black plants whispered in the wind and basked in the light of the almost full moon. A dancer and a monk walked unnoticed under the colorless branches.