In a deep chasm within the caverns that stretched beneath the Republic of Theien, a single entity waited as patiently as she possibly could. However, the usual influx of bodies for her and her surviving children to use as egg sacks had gone from a trickle to nothing at all. Normally this would have caused her to lash out and order that the cult do as it had long since been commanded to or face the consequences. However, this time things were different.

She had gradually come to the conclusion that Vaile had wanted her to reach, more or less. She was still cruel and a monstrous sadist who viewed the Races as cattle, but the thoughts that Vaile had put in her head had caused her to view the cult less like a ravenously hungry beast and more like a rancher. What use there was in using normal bodies would pale in comparison to the gains that could be gotten if the cult was allowed to not just expand, but encroach on the territory of the Adventurers Guild.

She held no real affinity to the other monsters and myriad creatures that also inhabited the Republic or even the caves beneath it, and as such, she had previously ignored them so long as they had not gotten in her or the cult’s way. Now, after a few talks with Vaile, she saw the benefit of using the other creatures in this area as a useful tool. The average level of the sacrifices up till recently had been steadily going downhill, but once the nation above her was in her clutches?

Ooooohhh, then the average level would rise by a great margin and, with that, came the average baseline power of the children borne from their flesh. To deny her nature and not demand sacrifices was a taxing thing to be sure, but Vaile had said that a truly great predator knows when to fatten up their prey before making the kill. If letting this new scheme pan out would secure for her not just a steadier (and larger) supply of bodies but also a name, then perhaps she could act like a ‘normal’ spider and wait for the prey to fall into her new ‘web’.

However, she did have to admit that it was all getting rather… well… boring. Sure, she had gotten bored being down here before, but without the usual members of the Races to torment it was just so painfully dull. She was half expecting that she would die of boredom rather than a failed molting at this point, especially now that the original ‘main base’ of the cult had been moved elsewhere. And by ‘elsewhere’ she meant somewhere many miles away. The old base had been abandoned, and that was one of the reasons why the trickle of sacrifices had stopped.

The past few months had been painfully dull, but the reports coming in did paint a good picture. The cult was expanding at a faster and faster rate, which was only possible due to Vaile convincing both her and the cultists to both change their ways (even if only temporarily) and also due to him doping everyone in the cult up on Charisma potions. If the current progress was to be believed, then it would only be another few months before the ratio of cultists to non-cultists in the Republic would be roughly six or seven to one.

Once that happened, then the next phase could begin. She was intrigued by the idea that Vaile had put forward. If his assumptions were correct, there would be a chance that something called a ‘referendum’ would be held when enough people wanted a massive political change. If that happened, then the odds of the transition of government from a Republic to a Theocracy would be painless and bloodless. While she was not normally the kind to desire a peaceful transition of power, Vaile had made it clear that a violent revolution would only result in more annoyances popping up.

And so, she stayed put in this deep hole that itself was deep underground, occasionally straining her body here and there to keep herself from getting too out of shape. Vaile had said that her relative inaction might also have been a reason why each molt has harder and harder for her, and that did make some sense. She knew that other creatures that did not maintain activity would gradually lose their ability to move until they died from atrophy, and she didn’t want that to be how she met her end.

She was in the middle of these stretches when a tingle was sent down the lines of thread that were all throughout the cave system. Something was coming down the tunnels leading to the abandoned former main base of the cult. Based on the vibrations, it was clear that this was no small band of hunters, but instead was a massive gathering of them. The damned Exterminators had come back, but she did not expect them to find her. Although, even if they did, they lacked the power to kill her, let alone injure her.

Her children acted as her eyes and ears and she watched the hunters set up strange containers all over the place. She contacted Vaile via a telepathic link and asked him what he thought the objects were, and in response, he practically screamed at her to cut the abandoned base off from everything else, either by rockfall or by an airtight seal of webbing. She wasn’t sure what he was so scared about, but she obliged his ‘request’ all the same while keeping a few eyes on the machines.

Her brood managed to seal the former base off from the rest of the caverns just in time, as when the devices began to pump out some kind of fog, she quickly realized exactly why Vaile had been so insistent that she do what he had told her to. The mental anguish of her children flooded her as she felt them suffocate as the chemicals dumped out by the fog machine affixed themselves to her kin’s breathing systems. The fog clung to everything, and she was horrified to feel connection after connection fall away into nothingness as the chemical fog claimed life after life.

This angered her immensely. She was now beyond livid and was nearly ready to force her way up and out of the caves and into the open air, but she caught herself before she could take that course of action. She purposely severed the rest of the afflicted spiders from her mind-web and let the rage inside of her settle. She quieted her instincts by repeating over and over that she would claim her bloody vengeance in time, but she needed to wait a bit longer. Once the cult had secured dominance, then she could bring her foes to a terrible and torturous end.

The prize of gaining a name was just in front of her, and she would be a fool to lash out and ruin her chances forever. No, like the spider she was, she needed to play the waiting game. She would let these bastards shred that web, but they would soon find themselves in another, larger, more inescapable one soon enough.

Although, there was one asset she could call upon to deal with the nuisance that had presented itself. The members of the Races that had deployed those fog devices didn’t need to wear any protection, even as the fog swirled around them, and this gave her an idea. Vaile and his little experiment were far above the place where the gas attack was happening. Maybe, just maybe, he could use that wit of his to turn this to her advantage?

She sent another message to him, and the two set to planning.