The spider dragged him for what felt like hours to him. Time had little meaning and it could have been minutes or days, but he knew the poison was killing him slowly. The damage had dropped off after the 30 seconds, but he still couldn’t move and every once in a while the spider would stop and inject him again with more poison. He suspected it was to be sure that he wouldn’t escape and so far it was working wonderfully for the spider. Henry, on the other hand, was at his wit's end when a welcome presence seemed to switch on within him, Iggy was back.

Iggy, thank the gods! I was worried about you. What did you find out? Henry thought loudly.

Henry! It’s good news, we can slowly start to build a tolerance to the poison and have already gained 5 skill levels in resistance. The problem is that it looks like we’re progressing too slowly. I have no idea if we’ll have time before we get back to the spider’s nest. She was clearly upset, but Henry couldn’t be bothered to worry. There was hope and he clung to it and embraced the pain and paralysis, maybe he could use his will to better affect their skill gains. He did have a pretty high Nanite Control. It was a long shot but the potential of using his nanites to alter his body and improve skills was exciting.

The spider dragged them to a large open cavern filled with webs and the chittering of other spiders, this was the nest. They were out of time and needed to free themselves quickly or be consumed. The spider used its silken webbing to cacoon Henry and hang him off to the side of the chamber then simply wandered off to catch more prey for him and his fellows.

Hanging there time passed quickly;y and soon Henry was so thirsty it must have been days. The constant chittering was only interrupted by the occasional screaming of others trapped in the web being devoured. It went on like this until he could hear a different sound, the clanging of metal on chitin and the shouts of warriors pushing into the chamber. It was the most wonderful sound he'd ever heard and despite his fatigue and thirst, Henry struggled to move. First, it was only a twitch of the finger, that only encouraged him. The sounds of battle drew closer and with each step the invaders took Henry moved more freely. Finally, the cacophony of fighting and dying spiders and men reached a fever pitch and Henry could move his neck enough to see that of the warriors only five still stood; the spiders were defeated, but at a high cost for the warrior band as their dead numbered more than 20.

"Lads, check our fallen and be sure to put those who can nae be helped out o' their misery" An older gruff voice sounded out in the quite following the battle. "We'll check the web for survivors and be on our way" Quickly the other four checked the fallen warriors and bandaged those who could stand and ended those who could not. It was brutal in a way that Henry had never seen or heard of, usually, Adventures would do their utmost to save friends and comrades. Even the Armies of the world had combat medics and field hospitals.

The warriors cut down hundreds of cocoons before getting to his. He was saved, but perhaps these were not his people and just maybe he would have been better off dying with the spiders. Only time would tell, but one thing was certain, Henry was about to find out just how dangerous the Incursion Zones could be.