The kids exchange glances after Teemo finishes talking, and Freddie is the first to break the silence.

“I think we’re going to need more than a bucket of mice to capture this one,” he says with a sideways look to Rhona, who can’t help but giggle.

“Yeah, we’re going to need to dig deep if we’re going to have any hope of capturing a Mistress of the Hunt,” she agrees, and tries to think of what to do. “I don’t suppose you know anything about her?”

“A little, actually,” admits the young orc. Rhonda looks surprised and motions for him to continue, which he quickly does. “She’s visited Elder Larx a couple times while I was also visiting. She’s an adherent of Thedeim’s and calls him the Weaver of Threads. It’s weird how she and Larx would focus on different aspects of him.”

“Anything we can use to try to catch her?”

“Hmm… not that I can think of, besides knowing at least what she looks like. She stands about as tall as you do, Rhonda, but she’s all spider below the waist. She likes to use spears and javelins, or at least I’ve never seen her without them. I’m pretty sure she won’t use them on us? She’s quick and agile, too. And if she’s a Mistress of the Hunt, she’s probably really good at the whole hunting thing.”

“So keep an eye on the ceiling. Good thing we learned that lesson early!” says Rhonda with a grin, and motions for Freddie to follow her around the house. “I think the first thing we should do is get some alchemical assistance. If she has Queen along, Vernew will definitely have some of her own.”

“Oh?” asks Freddie as he follows, and the two soon encounter a couple vipers. They easily assume their stances and continue to talk, even as they deal with the fight.

“Yeah. Master Staiven says she’s the best alchemist he’s met in a while, and that she’s the ant scion! Flash Freeze!” she shouts as one of the vipers spits venom at her. Her spell quickly freezes the projectile solid, making it much easier to sidestep.

Freddie decapitates a viper with his axe, before stepping in to keep the other one busy while Rhonda prepares to finish it off.

“Icicle!” she shouts before hurling a small spear of ice at the distracted viper, catching it in the side of the head and ending the encounter. “Whew. Anyway, I think I want to make some agility and perception potions for us, so we can spot her, and be able to chase her, too.”

Freddie nods to that, and the two soon get to the herb patch in the back. While they gather and plan a bit more, I turn my attention over to Vernew and Queen, who are currently in the tunnels. This is not to be confused with the caverns, which are currently overrun with scythemaws. The spiderkin is happily walking along the wall, idly swirling her spear.

“You don’t get out of the lab too much, do you?” she asks Queen, and my alchemist releases a subtly-sour scent. I guess either Vernew has hunted enough things by tracking pheromones to have a rough idea of what they mean, or my spiderkin still use pheromones to communicate at least a little.

“Not calling you out for it, just saying, is all. The Weaver of Threads has you doing important stuff, so it’s not like you know the whole place back to front. I don’t even know His territory that well, and I’m always moving around!” she says with a shrug. The two continue for a few more minutes before she speaks up again.

“What do you think of the two delvers He has us testing?” This time a pleasant scent comes from Queen, and Vernew nods. “Yeah, they’re probably something special for Him to take a special interest in them. I’ve seen the orc boy a couple times, seems like a good kid. Larx treats him like his own grandson, so he can’t be too bad,” she jokes as they come to an intersection.

“What do you think? Should we head up and see how well they can chase us, or head down and make them come find us.” She frowns at the neutral scent. “No opinion?” She grumbles and taps the butt of her spear against the wall she’s still standing on as she thinks, before she seems to come to a decision.

“We’re going up. Even if they’re supposed to be the ones after us, I’m a hunter, not prey. Besides, I haven’t been to the surface too often. Maybe I’ll get a chance to try to talk with the Reader.” She grins as she starts heading up. “Besides, if it’s unfamiliar territory for me, it might give the kids half a chance, hah!”

I watch her for a few more minutes as she goes, seeing her do a few quick forward jumps occasionally. Yeah, the kids are going to need to work hard to catch her, but that’s part of the point. If it was easy, I don’t think they’d be motivated enough to push themselves to get the best classes they can.

Back with the kids, it seems like those potions Rhonda wanted are not too difficult to make, as she has several brewed already.

“Ok, so, the perception potions are a bit weaker, but should last an hour or so each. The agility potions are stronger, but won’t last as long. So we’ll try to keep the perception effect active, and only drink the agility ones once we actually find her.”

Freddie nods at that and drinks his first perception potion, and takes a few seconds to get used to noticing more than usual. “I might know where to try to look for her, too.”

“Yeah?” asks the young goblin as she gets the spares sorted and stored on her person.

“Yeah. She’d often talk about the Reader of the Web with Larx. I’m pretty sure she meant Tiny.”

Rhonda looks uncertain at that. “I don’t think we can hide from him for that long in the maze. And we’d have to run from him while also trying to catch Vernew and Queen,” she points out. Freddie doesn’t look too concerned, though.

“Then we don’t go in. We go on. I’m pretty sure it’s not sticky on top. If she goes on top, we can try to ambush her around Tiny’s lair. The maze itself is pretty flat, but the trees in his arena should give us places to try to hide. And if she goes inside, she should have to run the maze like anyone else. If you can slow her down, Tiny can get her, and we’ll just pick her up at the maze entrance.”

“That all depends on her actually going there… but it’s not like I have any better ideas,” says Rhonda with a shrug. The two head to the maze, and send their spiders up to test that the covering will be enough to support them. Tiny doesn’t make sub-par webbing, and they quickly decide it should be fine. Freddie helps Rhonda up first, by having her run at him and jump up off his shield, with him giving a good push to help.

It’s a little more difficult to get Freddie up, though, since the bushes aren’t really made for climbing. After a few minutes of discussion, Rhonda pulls out a small stone and takes her time inscribing a rune onto it. Freddie backs up, and at her signal, charges towards the thorny wall. At the last moment, Rhonda drops the stone and activates it.

“Earth Thrust!” The ground under Freddie surges upward, and he jumps with all his might. He just manages to clear the hedge and lands gracelessly on his face beside Rhonda and the spiders. The group takes a few minutes to just enjoy the webbing and the unique view from atop the maze, before simply walking over the top, towards the lumpy bulges of the trees in and around Tiny’s lair.

The big lug, of course, feels the unusual movement on top of his domain, and actually lets a runner get much further than normal as he tracks down the kids. They give him a sheepish look once he appears below them.

“Uh… hey Tiny,” starts Freddie. “We’re not trying to cheat the maze. We’re doing something else.”

The huge spider doesn’t look very convinced, so Rhonda tries to explain. “See, we’re trying to get our classes, and asked Thedeim for help. So he wants us to try to track down and capture Vernew, who is getting Queen’s help! Freddie thinks our best bet is to try to hide up here and hope she comes by to visit you.”

Tiny considers that for a few long moments, before giving a series of shrugs that ripple along his eight legs, much to the kids’ relief.

“Oh, and if she does come by, can you try to keep her distracted?” asks Rhonda. Tiny again doesn’t look inclined, until the group uses their secret weapon: puppydog eyes! Even Lucas and Fiona get in on it, and Tiny is forced to relent under the onslaught of twenty big watery pleading eyes. With a whoop of triumph, the kids head for the webbed trees, and Tiny returns to chasing those who would brave his maze.